Kim Possible: Agent of SHIELD
by Reborn Dark Phoenix
Summary: Post "Graduation." Kim quit the spy/agent game after her first encounter with HYDRA scarred her mentally & emotionally. Four years later, Nick Fury calls her back into the game. Truth will be revealed as lies as Kim finds herself again and faces foes the likes of which she's never faced before, the worst of them seemingly...unstoppable. *WARNING: ANGST AND DARK TONE* Kim/Ron.
1. Prologue: Unstoppable

**_Welcome, dear readers and writers. After rediscovering Kim Possible and falling in love with the Kim/Ron coupling, I wanted to write a Kim Possible FanFic. I wondered, what's Kim and Ron been up to these since graduation? After reading some old comics on SHIELD, I decided on combining the two universes and came up with this theory. Now, I present to you this story and hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. _**

**_Disclaimer: *Kim Possible and all characters are rights of Disney. SHIELD, the Tesseract, Nick Fury and other related characters are owned by Marvel, and therefore by Disney.*_**

* * *

**REBORN DARK PHOENIX PROUDLY PRESENTS**

**KIM POSSIBLE: AGENT OF SHIELD**

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Prologue: Unstoppable

* * *

***Remote SHIELD scientific/weapons storage research base; Fiji. Night. Location known to only a select group of SHIELD personnel***

The night was quiet, except for the constant chirp of crickets and other insect wildlife in the jungle brush. The guards, heavily armed as they are, were suffocating in the island heat. Clothed with above standard SHIELD Kevlar uniforms and bulletproof vests, the circulation of air through their body pores was minimal at best. The five of them didn't understand why they had to be outside keeping watch near the large adamantium-laced metal gates, while the other guards were inside the post tower, where there was air conditioning, snacks…hell, even a TV and the Super Bowl was on tonight, too.

Little did they know that they wouldn't have to worry about such details after tonight.

"Damn, I wish we were taking the inside duty. I'd give anything for Lorenzo's shift on monitor duty," one agent said.

"Quit complaining, mon ami," another agent said as she leaned against the gate, resting her assault rifle on her leg. "Qu'est-ce que je donnerais pour la climatisation."

"Enough with the French, Celeste," the squad leader smirked as he walked forward, closer to the jungle. "If you want to say you want AC, just say it."

"Fine, mon capitan-I want le AC."

"Did you just tell Alec not to complain?" the sniper agent asked from his position up in the tree near the gates. "And now you're complaining, too?"

"You all talk too much," the last agent mumbled as he chewed on his cigar.

"Oh c'mon Vladmir, cheer up," the squad leader chuckled as he checked the radar on his hand held scanner; again, as it was five minutes ago, and 20 minutes ago, and the last three years, there was nothing on the radar. "Actually, I could go for a beer about now."

"I'm sure they have a bunch of beer inside," the sniper said. He again scanned the jungle with his rifle scope, and again like always, there was nothing. "How much y'all wanna bet that if we ask, they'll hold out on us?"

"I'll take some of that action," Agent Celeste replied.

"Gate Squad, you know we can hear you, right?" a female voice chuckled through their comm links. "If you want some beer, all you need to do is ask. Oh, and the Patriots just landed another touchdown."

"Merde!" Celeste muttered.

"You're from Haiti, since when you love American football?" Vladmir smirked.

"Post command, all clear out here…again," the leader said with his own smirk as he walked back to his team.

"Yeah, we know, Lieutenant, we can see on our radars there nothing out there."

"Then either bring out the beer or wait for our next call in."

**THUNK!**

A sniper rifle suddenly fell from the tree next to the gate, startling every one. It was the same rifle the sniper agent used. A sudden rustle was heard in the leaves above, and the team raced to the tree. "Trevor, you ok up there?!" Alec shouted up to the tree. They were all shocked to see a gloved hand slip through the foliage and come into view. The hand remained unmoved and stiff. It took them a minute to see the slow trickle of blood descending from the fingers.

"Mon Dieu, he is dead!" Celeste gasped.

"Post command," the captain shouted into his comm as he grabbed his assault rifle, the rest of the agents doing so as well. "We got a situation! Unknown assailant just came out of nowhere, and they just killed Trevor! Repeat, unidentified assailant is in the vicinity, we do not have visual!"

Static.

"They've cut the-!" Vladmir began to yell out before a dagger suddenly was thrown out of nowhere into his jugular, causing an eruption of blood as the agent fell to his knees, grasping at his fatal wound as he died in front of his teammates. Celeste screamed in horror.

"Vladmir!" Alec yelled as he ran over to his fallen agent. "He's…he's dead!"

"Oh my God!" Celeste said with fear as she repeatedly aimed her assault rifle at the vegetation. "What the hell is goin-!" She was interrupted by a silenced bullet to her head from an unknown position, sending her body staggering a few feet until she fell onto the floor, dead, as blood oozed from the bullet hole. Alec didn't even get a chance to react as he was met with the same fate, his dead body falling onto the dead body of Vladmir.

Only the squad leader remained.

"Dammit, Post Command, respond!" he yelled into his comm as he desperately aimed his assault rifle at random points at the jungle. All he got in response was static in his ear. Before he could do anything else, however, he felt two powerful hands grab his head, and his life was instantly ended as they snapped his neck, killing him.

"No help's coming for you, pal," the assailant sneered as he walked over to the dead Russian agent and took his blade out of the man's neck. Checking to see that his sidearm was still silenced, the assailant then did a remarkable back flip over the gates and proceeded to his objective. His virus would keep the cameras all over the base on loop for the next minute; he had until then to complete the next part of his plan.

Too easy.

* * *

***50 seconds later***

"Um…guys?" Agent Lorenzo said as he looked more closely at the security monitors. "I think we got something over here."

"I'm sure it's nothing Lorenzo," the captain said with ease as she and the other agents continued watching the Super Bowl. "Oh, yeah, touchdown again!"

"Cap, I'm serious…I think this is on a loop sequence."

"Lorenzo, it's nothing," another agent said as he drank some more beer. "Give it a rest and come watch the game, mate."

"Guys, I'm serious, I think something is really wrong with this-!"

Before he could finish the sentence, the air vent grate on the ceiling suddenly fell to the ground with a bang, followed by a series of gas-filled vials that cracked open upon crashing onto the ground. Instantly, the room was filled with a hazy gas that in just a few seconds enticed unnatural coughing and wheezing amongst the seven SHIELD agents. Within 30 seconds, all their lungs collapsed in failure and they each fell onto the floor, dead. A minute passed before a well-built male wearing all black clothing-kevlar armor uniform, boots, leg side arm holsters, fingerless gloves, a combat utility belt and knife sheathes on his arms-descended into the room on a rope, a gas mask on his face. He had dirty blonde hair and black shades covering his eyes, which actually served as an all-purpose visor and detector. Upon touching the ground, he went for the monitors and finding a few USB ports, he installed drives in each of them, uploading multiple viruses and effectively crippling the base's security system. All cameras and alarms, unless activated manually, were now useless.

Step 2 was complete; now for the hardest part-obtaining the target.

Making for the door, the black-clad intruder suddenly noticed the TV. "Oh, cool, the Patriots are winning." After that, he exited the monitor room.

He made his way through the base, his shades serving to see through walls and alert him of any guards and agents coming his way. He was moving at a rather slow pace, something his master really didn't smile upon; he preferred moving at this pace though. By his training, he was mostly an infiltrator and scrapper type of spy/agent/assassin. He preferred stealth, agility, precision and well placed strikes over brute force and open assault.

Of course, he also liked to get his hands dirty. He occasionally would sneak up on a pair of patrolling agents and snap their necks.

After 15 minutes of stealthily moving through the base, the intruder came across a forked hallway; this was in the plans he had of the base, of course, and he wasn't worried. Taking the handheld scanner from his belt, he brought up a 3D map of the base complex. Finding his current location on the map, he scanned the blueprints and found that the most efficient and stealthy way to get to the target was to the hallway on the left. From there, after reaching the target, there was an air duct in the adjacent hallway from the target's room from which he could sneak out of the complex and return to the jungle, and SHIELD wouldn't be the wiser. If all went accordingly as he had planned, the base personnel wouldn't realize he had been there until 16 hours from now. Setting a path for himself, and checking on his handheld that the virus was still messing with the base security systems, the intruder started walking to the left hallway…

Only to be seen by a lone patrolling agent that was also coming out of the hallway. For a few seconds of surprise, the two individuals stared at each other. But the intruder, thanks to years of training and conditioning, quickly regained his senses and knew what to do.

"Excuse me, sir, I think I'm lost; can you point me to the little agent's room?"

"What the-?! Intruder!" the agent yelled out as he went for his ear piece. Unfortunately, he was unable to use it as the intruder quickly pressed a button on his scanner, sending a short EMP pulse out and rendering the SHIELD agent's comm useless.

"Let's keep this between us, pal," the intruder smirked as he took out his combat knife. Without a sound, he lunged at the agent, his blade at the ready and the knowledge to use it to back him up. But SHIELD agents are among the best combatants in the world, and despite being caught off guard, the agent knew how to hold his ground in a fight. He was staggered by the impact of the intruder's lunge but quickly made up for it as he lashed out a fist in an uppercut, barely missing his opponent but giving him the distance he needed to assess the situation and get a look over at his opponent. "Finally, an opponent who can fight back," the intruder smirked as he sheathed his knife, no longer wanting to use it, and he took up a fighter's stance. After a few seconds of circling each other, the two men charged at each other. The intruder feigned a right hook and when the agent made to block it, he was met with an uppercut to the chin; the agent wasn't out that easily, though, and retaliated with a sweep kick and a haymaker to follow up, surprising the intruder as he made impact with his attack. As soon as the intruder crashed onto the ground, however, he instantly jumped back up and fired a jumping roundhouse kick, sending the agent flying a few feet back. The hit rattled him-HARD. Struggling to get up, he felt like a few ribs were his opponent had hit him had cracked, maybe even broke…his head was starting to ring now, and he felt a bit dazed from the hit. But he refused to give up; he had to hold out until back-up arrived and this intruder was down and being interrogated. Looking up, he saw the intruder jumping at him, ready to land with an axe kick, but the agent dodged at the last second and lashed back with a snap kick, sending the intruder's momentarily unbalanced from sprawling onto the ground. The agent then made to do like wrestling and pile dived at him, only for the intruder to roll out of the way very quickly and grab him by the neck with his legs and grabs his flailing arm.

"You tried, I'll give you that," the intruder smirked as he applied pressure to the agent's wrist joints. "But it takes more than that to beat me." At that, the intruder snapped the agent's wrist, breaking it and enticing a pitiful scream from his mouth that could barely be heard and ended abruptly when the intruder expertly adjusted his legs and snapped the agent's neck. The intruder got up and looked at the dead body. "Can't beat the unstoppable." He checked his watch; this little dance had cost him a precious 22 seconds. He'd need to avoid any and all guards now. With a silent dash, he raced down the hallway, the scanner in his hand to guide him to where he had to go.

Two minutes later, he reached the room where his target would be. Stopping just before where the hallway ended and bonded with a large room, the intruder activated the infrared vision on his shades. He looked at the wall and with the enhanced heat motion sensors also installed in his shades, he could make out seven heavily armed agents guarding a 7ft by 10ft metal vault door. Behind that door lay his target, the entire reason he was even here in the first place. Reaching into his combat utility belt, the intruder calculated the angle necessary to fire his projectile as he took out his gas mask and two small circular vials filled with the same colored gas he had used to kill the agents in the security monitor room. After he put on the gas mask, he waited an additional two seconds before throwing the vials into the room, straight for the seven agents; two seconds later, the intruder walked into the room, his sidearm at the ready, but seeing the agents suffocating due to the gaseous poison and unable to even try and stop him, the intruder smirked to himself and holstered his weapon. By the time the gas has dissipated, the agents were dead and he had connected his scanner into the passcode keypad, hacking the encrypted code to enter the room guarded by the vault door and get to the target. In just 15 seconds, the encryption was cracked and the vault door slowly opened. With a smirk, the intruder said to himself, "Again, too easy," and walked into the room…

And was confronted with four more heavily armed SHIELD agents…in a second room serving as a second buffer, complete with a second vault gate.

This was not in the blueprints.

"Well…damn."

"Sound the alarm!" one of the agent said as she fired her assault rifle and began launching a bombardment of bullets at the intruder; he was able to dodged the rounds, but just barely as he was caught by complete surprise. He saw another agent dash for an alarm switch near the second vault gate. He instantly saw that that alarm was not connected to the base's main security system, but rather on a whole other back-up system, and if the alarm was activated, the whole base would know what was going on, and he couldn't have that. And so, as he leaped out of the way of the bullets, he flung two knives-one at the shooter, the blade embedding into her hand as she screamed in pain and dropped the rifle; the second blade embedded itself directly into the other agent's neck, severing his artery completely and making him collapse just inches away from the alarm, bleeding out from the vicious wound in his neck. The intruder to a second to sigh; he was still safe.

**WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WHA**

"Oh, come on!" he roared as he snapped back up to his feet, his side arms in his hands. Scanning the room, he saw that there were in fact TWO alarm switches, and as he had killed the agent heading for the first alarm switch, he had completely missed another agent dashing for the second alarm and activating it. Now, as the intruder heard the blaring alarms echoing across the base, he knew it'd be three minutes tops before he was swarmed by heavily armed tactical strike teams searching for his head. He turned his attention to the other three agents, who were now aiming their assault rifles and, in the case of the agent who had been hit with his knife, sidearm. "That was completely unnecessary," the intruder snarled as he cocked his guns. "And I don't handle unnecessary complications that well."

"Take him down," the bleeding agent said with anger and the three agents fired their weapons. The intruder easily dodged their attacks with uncanny agility and athletic skill, jumping and sliding and racing with unimaginable grace and reflex as he raced towards the agents, a sneer on his face and a murderous glint in his eye. He was conditioned and trained so that he couldn't be hit by bullets and be able to easily dodged them. These agents were wasting their time and last minutes doing so. As he leapt above their bullets in a twirling motion, he fired his guns three times, each time hitting an agent directly in the head each time, instantly killing them. The intruder landed on the floor with grace and precision as the bodies of the agents collapsed onto the ground.

A minute left. He had to give it to SHIELD; adding an extra buffer room not on the blueprints was actually a smart idea.

Quickly, he connected the scanner to the second passcode keypad, and within another 12 seconds he had cracked the encryption and opened the vault door. Dashing inside, he used his scanner's advanced technology to close the vault gates and seal himself in, the gates closing just as he saw SHIELD strike teams enter the room. With a smirk, he waved at the shocked agents as the gates closed with a loud bang.

Making sure that they wouldn't be coming in after him any time soon, thanks to the 10 inch thick titanium/adamantium alloy gate, the intruder turned around. There, finally, lay his target.

The blonde intruder walked up to the large technological wonder before him; a machine with multiple thick coiled wires and apparatuses blinking various colored lights. The machine pulsated with the power that the energy source gave it. A nearby laptop confirmed that the machine wasn't active. Walking up to the machine, the intruder gazed at the technology before reaching for the middle bit of the machine, a large hole with spiked projectiles used for data and energy gathering. There, he grabbed a handle and pulled up, revealing a glass and metallic cylindrical case, and inside the case was a blue pulsating cube.

He smiled; torturing the SHIELD agent he had captured days ago proved to be not only fun but useful. Their intel was right.

"HYRDA X to Strucker," the intruder said into his ear piece comm as he looked over the prize. "Intel has proven correct; SHIELD's artificial Tesseract is in my possession."

"Excellent work, my boy," a voice replied. "No complications, I presume?"

"Not initially, but there was an extra buffer room not on the blueprints and an alarm was triggered. Nothing I couldn't handle. The Tesseract will be in your possession in 6 hours' time."

"You serve me well, my boy. I knew you were the one for this job. Be at the rendezvous point as planned."

"Yes, Baron Strucker."

"Hail HYDRA!" the voice said with a sinister feel to it as the link went dead. The intruder turned to the vault door, from which could be heard the sound of thumping as SHIELD agents tried to force open the gate vaults. The intruder smirked as he walked over to where he had sealed the gates. Placing a small grenade there, he then walked back to where he was previously standing and readied himself and his two side arms for battle. They wanted to come inside so badly?

"Hail HYDRA."

He'd let them in himself…and they'd be in for a surprise.

"Boo-yah."

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**_XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX_**

**_Well, I'm sure I've managed to grab your attention dear readers, especially with that last line. What's going on? All will be revealed in due time, my friends._**

**_Thank you for taking the time to read this, and remember to Review! Tell me what you liked, didn't like, what you hope to see, etc! I love hearing from the readers and it helps me know that people actually love the story :D_**

**_Next chapter coming soon, so until next time readers :)_**


	2. What Ever Happened to Kim Possible?

_**And now, we continue on with the story. You're all probably wondering, "Where's Kim?" Well, read to find out. *Warning: I don't know Monique's last name or found it anywhere so I just made one up.* Anyways, enjoy :D**_

_***Disclaimer: Disney owns Kim Possible and related characters. Disney also owns Marvel and therefore all Marvel associated characters. What they do in here is of my creation.***_

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Chapter 1: What Ever Happened to Kim Possible?

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***Upperton University for Liberal Arts, Sciences and Business. Noon. 2 days after events of "Prologue."***

The campus bustled with activity, students left and right walking to their next class or to find their friends or to just grab a spot somewhere in the shade to escape the mild heat the sun gave off. Spring Semester at Upperton University was off to a great start in the last three weeks, and the momentum didn't show any sign of slowing down. Exiting the science department building with her class done and a two hour break to use up before her next Statistics class, Monique Donaldson set off for her usual place to wait, ready to meet up with her best friend. She wondered how she was doing at the moment; Monique would worry about her, and she had good reason to. Ever since the Incident just weeks after graduation, the fiery girl she once knew was just never herself anymore. Granted, she had done her best to adapt, make amends with herself and move on in life, but you don't just get over a traumatizing event that is forever seared into your eyes and mind like that. It still affected her, even four years later. But yes, she had done her best to move on…in all aspects of her life.

"Hey, Monique!" The dark skinned girl turned and smirked at the arriving form of Brian Richards, the quarterback of the Upperton University Panthers football team, a tall guy with an athletic build, curly black hair and brown eyes…and Kim's ninth attempt at a stable relationship since the Incident.

"Hey Brian," she smiled in greeting as he came up to her. Monique thought Brian was an ok guy-he wasn't a jackass like most jocks could be; instead he was understanding, quiet when he needed to and had a knack of hiding his high intelligence, preferring to be on the subtle standing. "What's up?"

"Coach called a last minute practice before the game tomorrow, and we're supposed to be starting in 15 minutes. I wanted to find Kim and…you know," he grinned sheepishly (Brian could also be lovably shy sometimes), "spent a short bit with her, since I'm not so sure when practice is going to end."

"Don't you have classes to go to?"

"Today I only have two classes, and the second one is always finished by noon."

Monique smirked. "Well, in that case, the two of us always chill at the table under the big tree in the north campus plaza. C'mon, let's go; I'm sure Kim will be more than happy for you to join us."

"Sweet," Brian said with a smile, and he followed Monique down her usual path to where Kim would be sitting and waiting for her. After about 20 seconds, Brian, with some slight hesitation, asked, "Monique, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Shoot."

"What's going on with Kim? I mean…recently? I mean yeah, she can be a bit distant at times, but recently, she's been…a bit more distant. You know what I mean?"

"I do, Brian," Monique sighed. "More than you think. To be honest, this is something I can't really discuss with you myself, being it's Kim's life, and you'd have to ask her that yourself…but what I can tell you is that, well…ever since the end of high school, she really hasn't been herself."

"From what I've heard…and seen from that documentary that pops up every once in a while, she hasn't gone out on a mission ever since you guys graduated…or been sighted with her sidekick, that Stoppable guy. Whatever happened to him?"

Monique didn't answer for a minute, but sighed heavily before she did. "Stuff happens Brian…stuff just happens." When Kim and Ron had been partners in heroics, the world simply believed the two of them to be just that-partners. The news that they were a couple were only known to a select few, and even now, the world was basically unaware something of romantic nature had even occurred between the two young heroes. As to what happened…it wasn't Monique's place to tell Brain; he could mention it to Kim in an effort to try to relate to her more, and it would backfire being that the Incident was still traumatizing and difficult for her. Besides, Brian would probably never end up knowing in full detail anyways.

Kim was coping, and Brian was her longest yet-six months-but from the looks of things, Kim was going to let another relationship end.

The two reached the northern campus plaza, and immediately Monique saw her and her best friend's favorite location. At the table, a lone redhead girl sat, her bag on the table with a half-eaten BLT sandwich and a closed textbook. The redhead wore a green long-sleeve shirt with a partially unbuttoned top, dark blue flannel jeans and black Converse sneakers. She appeared to be working on some homework, and aiding her was a small naked mole rat, doing his best to understand why humans actually needed math. The mole rat looked to the redhead's face and he sighed a bit, recognizing the look of reminiscence and longing in her eyes.

Rufus understood; he missed his master/friend every day, but knew that Kim was dwelling too much in this. The redhead before his was not the Kim Possible he had helped save the world with countless times, knew and loved.

"Eh, it's ok," the mole rat muttered with reassurance, his tiny paw patting Kim's hand. She looked down at her new pet as of four years, smiling. She could always count on Rufus to try and cheer her up. She raised her hand and scratched him behind his neck, something he loved to enjoy, in thanks.

"Hey, girl!" Monique said, announcing her arrival, as she came up and hugged her best friend. "Guess who came along?"

"Hey, Kim," Brian smiled as Monique got out of the way, allowing Kim to take in the sight of her current boyfriend. Kim's face immediately lit up, albeit not a lot. She gave Brian a genuine smile as she got up and embraced him tenderly. Brian gave her a quick kiss on her forehead. For less than a split second, Kim almost made to let go, but she remained in the embrace, making herself go forward. She needed it.

"Hey, Brian," Kim said with a smile as she and Brian sat down next to each other, Monique sitting across from them and petting Rufus in greeting. "What's the sitch?"

"Well, Coach called up a last minute practice to get us ready for the big game tomorrow, and it starts in 15-now 12 minutes," the quarterback smiled. "Since I don't know when it'll end, I figured I should come and see you for a bit, spend some time with you, Kim."

"Aw, that's sweet," Kim replied with a smile as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Monique couldn't help but notice how Brian's eyes fell ever so slightly in brightness as a result. "But maybe you should go over there and get in some early practice; you keep telling me it'll be a huge game tomorrow night, and I don't want you to mess up on my account."

Brian looked at her with uncertainty. "Are you sure, Kim? I mean, well…"

"Hey, I'll still be around when the game is over, and when practice is over," Kim replied. "Go…get some practice in, get your game on, win and be the team hero. I'll be there watching when you win the trophy."

"You'll be there at the game?"

"Of course."

"Well…ok," Brian said with a half-smile. Kim felt a bit bad, so she cupped his face in her hands and gave her boyfriend a tender kiss on the lips, and that seemed to calm the athlete down. "I'll call you tonight; hopefully by then practice will be over…maybe we can do something?"

"I'd like that."

"Ok…see you babe," Brian said, walking off with his bag over his shoulder; about 30 steps away, he looked back at Kim, a look of concern and a slight defeat on his face, before continuing on to the campus football field.

Rufus sighed with a mixture of exasperation and sorrow as he slumped onto the table surface. Monique made sure Brian was out of earshot before facing Kim. "Kim…you know you're pushing him away again, right?"

Kim set her eyes to their table, guilt seeping into her and a feeling of pain very familiar now. "Yeah…I know…"

"Girl," Monique sighed. "I really wish you could ease up a bit. Kim," she continued as she took Kim's hand, "you're dwelling in the past way too much…I don't like seeing you like this, and I've had to see it for four years now. You had it made, you were in the big leagues, and now…now you're a wreck. You've never been the same since the Incident, and you probably never will, I get it girlfriend, but you can't let that one moment define you for the rest of your life. It's hurting you, not just psychologically, but emotionally too. It's starting to hurt Brian, like it hurt Anthony, and Greg and the others before them. Kim…you're pushing away everything that could be good for you away. Why can't you see it and let go…really let go?"

Kim and Monique had had this discussion multiple times during their four years in Upperton University since the Incident. Monique would always make her point, and Kim would always say she'd try to do so, and God Almighty, she really tried. She was Kim Possible-she could do anything! She tried over and over and over again to come to terms with what had happened, to overcome her fears and traumatization…to let go and embrace the new that life would offer her. But every time, she'd come crashing back down to where she started. And Kim knew why; she had denied it to herself many times, always wanting to think something else…but she had finally come to terms with the reason why she would not and could not let go of what had happened.

"Because I don't want to let go, Monique," Kim sighed quietly. "Every time I close my eyes when I sleep, all I see are the flames, the blood, the machines, the soldiers, the scythe, the…the claw…and in the end…Monique, I don't want to let go, because I don't want to feel like such a failure if it happens again. If I keep it intact, remember what had happened…then I won't make the same mistakes again. I don't want someone else's parents to hate me for my mistake."

Monique sighed, knowing full well she wasn't going to get through to Kim…not today.

A bird's cry interrupted their moment of reminiscence as a dark red falcon flew onto their table, landing with a graceful and soft thud. The majestic bird let out a soft bird cry as it walked over to Kim's side of the table, gazing at her with deep brown eyes.

"Huhah! Hey, birdie!" Rufus squeaked as he grinned and gave the falcon a thumb's up.

"Hey, Scarlet," Kim said with a soothing voice as she petted the falcon's head, to which it cooed softly. The falcon was no stranger to Monique or Rufus and especially not to Kim; a few weeks into their freshman semester, when the two best friends had found this spot and claimed it for themselves, this falcon had started coming to them, and it would be a constant occurrence, it coming back to them and not just on campus, but soon it began following the two girls around. It wasn't long before it became noticeable that it had taken a liking to Kim, and to be quite honest, Kim was growing more and more fond of the falcon, even going so far as to name it Scarlet. It soon became something of a second pet for Kim, after Rufus, and albeit the fact that it was still an untamed and wild falcon, but it would always seek her company anywhere she was in Upperton (in the outside, of course); where it would be untamed with others, with Kim & Rufus and soon Monique, it would be calm and pet-like, acting tamed and trained around them. Kim and the falcon became attached to each other, and in the last four years that she had been in Upperton University, it had never ceased to offer its companionship and company to Kim. It was almost as if it was watching over her.

"They don't hate you, Kim," Monique said as she also petted Scarlet's back, the falcon pecking at the unfinished BLT. "They…well…" She had no words.

"They hate me," Kim sighed. Their hate was well deserved.

"Hanna doesn't hate you," Monique offered.

"Hanna is only five years old, almost six-"

"And smarter than most kids her age. She still likes you, and she still seems to believe in Kim Possible."

Kim looked from Monique to Scarlet, watching as the falcon pecked and continued to make the BLT its own. _I wish I could see what she sees, _she thought to herself.

* * *

***Kim and Monique's dorm room, Upperton University Dormitory Section B, Building 4, that evening.***

Kim had gotten out of her funk later during the day-mostly, as usual-and now had just gotten off the phone with Brian. Monique had overheard the conversation, despite not wanting to, and she could tell that Kim was trying her hardest to be herself, the real Kim Possible, with Brian. They had talked for a good 40 minutes, give or take, and it seemed that Brian's practice had gone well, and he seemed positive that the Panthers were going to win the game tomorrow night. Kim was happy for him, and even smiled as she talked on and on with her boyfriend. Monique could tell, however, that Kim was still being reserved, no matter how much she tried not to be. It was just second nature to Kim now, ever since the Incident; she had built a thick emotional wall around herself in an effort to protect herself from any other traumatic events that could be thrown her way, but also keeping the traumatic events that already happened locked in with her, and the gnawed and chewed on her, never letting her forget, cope or move on adequately enough. Finally, Kim told Brian to relax himself, since he was feeling very sore from practice, and Brian didn't complain. Making Kim promise again that she'd be at his game, he hung up, leaving her to spend time with Monique and a sleeping Rufus.

"I'm thinking a movie night again," Monique smiled as she came out of their mini-kitchen with a huge bowl of popcorn.

"Didn't we just have that last night?" Kim smirked as she slumped onto the couch and grabbed the remote to their TV, Monique joining her. "Besides, there's never anything good nowadays."

"That's because you don't know where to look, girlfriend," Monique smirked as she took the remote from Kim. "Let me work my magic."

"Fine; hey Rufus, wake up, we're watching a movie."

"Ah, a movie!" the rodent squeaked as he instantly got up. "Nothing scary, please!"

"Ok, Rufus, nothing scary," Monique chuckled as she changed the channel…and all three of them were surprised.

_"Teen hero sensation…able to do anything, she was the hero we could all relate to. Call her, beep her if you wanted to reach her, she would answer. Then, one day, she disappeared. We now ask ourselves… What Ever Happened to Kim Possible?" _An airing of the documentary _What Ever Happened to Kim Possible?_ was playing on this channel. Monique suddenly felt a bit nervous, and turned tentatively to Kim. She really didn't need to have to relive the pain AGAIN even more than she was already doing. Not only that, Monique knew for certain that whatever was spoken about on the documentary was nowhere near close to correct about what really happened…what Kim and Ron had really gone through…what Kim really saw with her own eyes. She wondered if it'd be a good idea to change the channel, especially since even after 2 years of the documentary being out there, Kim had refused to ever watch it.

Kim herself sat up a little bit straighter, her emerald eyes getting a bit bigger as her attention was glued to the screen. Her facial expression became a mixture of dread, curiosity and surprise. Yes, she had never seen the documentary, and she never wanted to watch it…but it was here in front of her, confronting her and catching her by surprise by sneaking up on her and starting, giving her no choice but to watch the beginnings.

"You…you still haven't ever watched this…have you?" Monique asked, causing Kim to turn her head to her. She could see the uncertainty in the green orbs.

"No," Kim said quietly, grasping at a few strands of red on her head. "I…never really wanted to."

"I can change the channel if you want me to, Kim."

Kim looked again to the screen and the documentary, now currently discussing how Kim Possible was among the top ranks-the best of the best, amongst the like of SHIELD, the Avengers and Team Go, before her sudden disappearance. "…Actually…" she hesitated, looking down at Rufus, who simply shrugged, signaling it was really up to her. "Actually," she sighed, "leave it here…I guess maybe I should see it."

"It's not much, really," Monique said, having seen this documentary a few times herself. "But if you want to, it's no problem." Although she thought this would be a bad idea, Monique relented. Perhaps Kim needed to see this, after all.

And so, the two girls and rodent watch the documentary. It was only 30 minutes long, but it was filled to the brim with a lot of speculation and details about events leading up to the sudden disappearance of Kim Possible as a freelance hero/agent. The documentary had segments of interviews with many of those Kim had helped over the years as a freelancer, as well as a few government officials, even the villain Senor Senior, Jr., who was still going strong with Bonnie. All of them couldn't figure out concrete reasons as to why Kim suddenly fell off the grid of hero work. Then the documentary came to a part about Kim's last greatest act of heroism before her disappearance: her actions in repelling the alien invasion of Warlordia; Kim and Ron had managed to convince villains Shego and Drakken to help them fight off the invaders and crush their forces, in record timing, with the likes of SWORD, SHIELD, the Avengers, the FF, the X-Men, Team Go or even regular armed forces barely having enough time to retaliate. The world had owed a debt to Kim Possible for defeating the aliens. From then, after her graduation, she suddenly fell off the grid: her website was taken down, her contact info was erased, and she simply stopped answering the beeps and calls. No one could reach her, ever, and it had been that way for four years now. Kim Possible, the girl who could do anything…had disappeared. And it hadn't been just her-Ron Stoppable had also simply vanished. Speculation was that the two had a fallout over partnership status and weight pull; others included plain retirement, covert mission work for military, one expert even speculated that one died, but it seemed unlikely. But most of the experts (where they even able to be called expert?) reasoned and agreed with the theory that the crime fighting duo simply drifted apart after their high school graduation due to conflicting life priorities, and with the drifting apart, they ceased their crime fighting and simply started simpler lives.

It wasn't true.

The documentary ended with the narrator wishing the teenagers, now probably in their early twenties (Kim was now 22) well wherever they were, thanking them for their years of service to humanity, with a final shot of Kim and Ron in a triumphant pose, and with that, it ended.

The TV playing some other show, but the two young woman and mole rat stopped paying attention to it, and Monique and Rufus turned to look at Kim. Kim stared at the TV for a few seconds before bowing her head, looking at her feet.

"Kim?" Monique asked, placing her shoulder on Kim's shoulder. She felt a very slight shaking.

"…none of what they said was told," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly.

"I know, Kim."

"They don't know…the real reason…" Kim said, and a few seconds, the tears started to fall, softy and slowly, as she started to shake uncontrollably, and Monique instantly went for her, embracing her and holding her close to him as Kim started to softly cry. Rufus sighed with sorrow as he also made for Kim, jumping onto her leg and hugged her side as best as he could with his size. As she clung to Monique, who whispered in her ear it was going to be ok, Kim once more became filled with the familiar feeling of failure and guilt, something at always gnawed at her, something she did her best to hold down but would always at time overtake her in many occasions in the last four years, and drown her in humiliation and regret. All because she wasn't good enough, fast enough, strong enough…

She really missed Ron.

* * *

**_XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX_**

**_Ok, so yes, Kim may seem a bit (ok a lot) OOC, but remember, something happened that led her to being as such. And what is this something? You might think you know...and you could be possibly partially correct, maybe._**

**_Other questions you may have: who hates Kim & why? Why is Kim here in Upperton when she had acceptance letters across the globe? Why is Rufus with Kim & not Ron? And where is Ron, anyways? All shall be revealed soon, just keep on reading._**

**_So, you all know what to do: comment, critique, feedback, what you think, what you liked and didn't like, etc, etc. I do love hearing from you guys, and I will do my best to answer, too._**

**_And a virtual cookie to anyone curious about Scarlet the Falcon who can guess what it's role in this story is ;D_**

**_Next chapter, we visit an old green lady we all know and love, and some more hints about... the INCIDENT *Dramatic music*_**

**_Thank you to everyone supporting this story, and until next time, readers._**


	3. If Only

**_With Kim not in the game anymore, one can't help but ask, "Where are her Rogue's Gallery?" Well, I'm not going to be getting to them all just yet, but I did want to give some account on Shego, Kim's greatest and most dangerous foe. Besides, who doesn't love Shego, right?! Now, again, if she seems a bit OOC here, remember, stuff has happened in the four years since Graduation, so there have been some changes around._**

**_Now, the versions of Viper and Grim Reaper here are based off their Avengers EMH interpretations. Baron Strucker here is a fusion of his comic character and Avengers EMH interpretation._**

**_Now, I present to you all, Shego. Enjoy :D_**

**_*Insert Disclaimer here*_**

* * *

Chapter 2: If Only…

* * *

***HYDRA Island; location: Somewhere in the South Pacific, Location Unknown to SHIELD. Night.***

Shego always wondered how her life could've been…if she had just taken up that offer when she had the chance.

She walked along the halls of the advanced HYDRA base, something that Strucker had commissioned to be built a few years ago, prior to when she was forced by the Baron to join HYDRA. She had been with HYDRA ever since that night, working for them, killing for them, ravaging and decimating for them…every day, she would do something for the "glory of HYDRA," for the advancement of the dream of the Red Skull and of Baron Strucker-ruling the world and Captain America's head on a pike as a mockery to the free world and the ideals of liberty…and it had taken its toll on her, hardening her to the horrors that being a super criminal of HYDRA exposed her to. But she didn't want this life at all.

If she had only just taken that offer.

After Ron Stoppable had defeated the alien invaders and managed to succeed in freeing the world, she and Drakken had been commended by the United Nations World Assembly and World Security Council (the latter being a bit more…uncertain) for their parts in helping Kim Possible and her sidekick/best friend/boyfriend, and to be honest…she enjoyed it. She had felt good for actually doing some good, after such a long time of being a supervillian ever since she quit Team Go, she had felt that rush of adrenaline that came with in saving lives, knowing that if you failed, the world would suffer for it; she enjoyed the feeling she got afterwards when they had won…like she felt that she had done something worthwhile; and she enjoyed the feeling she got when she and Drakken were applauded and recognized for their valiant efforts and actions…she felt appreciated, and thanked. So thankful was the World Assembly that they were pardoned of their attempt of world domination when they unleashed toy robots upon the Earth. She knew there were still voices up there that questioned whether to allow her and Drakken to remain free…but then, Kim had spoken on their behalf. Shego never would admit it to anyone, but she always had an amount of respect for Kim Possible, and after the invasion, for Ron Stoppable. But after Kim had advocated for her (Drakken was off doing his own good deeds somewhere) and spoken for her, Shego saw that Kim truly believed that she was capable of change and redemption; she really thought that Shego had the potential to be of good for the world.

That night, after getting home from that summons, Shego had done something she had never done in years: she had cried. That was how thankful she was to Kim, although she would never admit it to anyone, barely able to admit it to herself.

Then…she had been approached by someone who she would've thought would be against her attempts of reformation, someone who she thought would've been extremely vocal in opposition of her.

Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD.

_*Flashback, Four years ago, just days before the "Incident."*_

_"Who are you and what are you doing in my apartment?!" she snarled as her fists began glowing with dangerous green energy. Upon seeing the figure shrouded in shadows, she immediately became alert and tense. She had a very stressful day, and she just wanted to have the night to herself. And if someone was here to hurt her in anyway, then they were in for a surprise, and she would lay down the hurt herself._

_Which she would've done if the intruder didn't then turn on her lamp, revealing his features, and one such as Shego would always recognize the face of an African American male with an eye patch._

_"You're not really that hard to find, Shego."_

_"…Nick Fury?" she said in surprise, depowering her fists…just enough to be ready to use if need be. "What are you…doing here?"_

_"Well, I'm not here to arrest you or kill you," Fury smirked. "If I wanted that, I would've sent some of my agents to do that. And trust me, they would really get the job done." To Shego's surprise, he then sat down on one of her two sofa chairs, motioning her to do the same. When she did so, Fury continued on, "Shego, I'm here to offer you something. Now, because of your…past, I know very well what you are capable of, and what you can do; SHIELD has been keeping eyes on you and on Drakken."_

_"So how come you never tried to stop us?" Shego asked._

_"Why would we? That spy teenage heroine was out there doing it for us."_

_"You mean Kim."_

_"Yes, I mean Ms. Possible."_

_"You know…how come you guys have never done anything about her? You know, teenager, saving the world, getting caught in life threatening situations…"_

_"SHIELD's always had eyes and tabs on her. In ways you'd never think. But back to the point, Ms. Shego," Fury smirked. "I'm here because I know what Ms. Possible said about you that day you and she stood before the World Security Council-in fact, I was the one they asked to help make their choice of letting you remain free. I have come to value anything that girl does or says to be meaningful, so I took those words to heart. Because of that, I want to help you on your path of redemption and going straight. I am offering you…a position as an Agent of SHIELD, among my other high level agents, and become a SHIELD-sanctioned Secret Warrior."_

_*End Flashback*_

It was a very surprising offer, Shego admitted-SHIELD agents were amongst the most highly trained and skilled soldiers of the world, and she had heard about these "Secret Warriors," better trained and skilled than the best of SHIELD, the best of SHIELD's best. Some of them were members of the hero team called the Avengers, and that only added to their skill and training. Shego thought it was a nice tempting offer… but she had decided to decline it, wanting to stay out of that kind of thing for the moment.

And then, days later, Drakken had caved and decided to do one last "take-over-the-world" scheme, all because Duff Killigan had mocked him and teased him about him being a good guy. And he had somehow roped her into the scheme. And that was the night everything had gone to hell…

The last night, she slowly learned over the years, that Kim Possible did any kind of hero work. And for that, Shego had felt like a letdown ever since.

She had really wanted to change. She had really, truly and genuinely wanted to reform and go straight, wanted to feel what she felt when she helped save the world, and she had thrown it away…and then it came back to bite her in the ass the moment Baron Wolfgang von Strucker revealed himself and took matters into his own hands.

"Shego."

Shego was slightly startled when she heard her name being called. She realized she had ended up on one of the base's high rise balconies, where some guards kept on constant patrol. She turned to see who was addressing her, and she was greeted with the sight of Madame Viper and the Grim Reaper, two of HYDRA's deadliest and best assassins. Viper had her typical green attire, while Reaper had his typical cloak and lightweight steel/adamantium body armor, his scythe gleaming dangerously and sinisterly in the moonlight. Shego's most shocking memory from that night when she joined HYDRA heavily involved that scythe.

"Yes, Viper?" she responded with a stiff tone. Viper was her superior, yes, but Shego being…Shego was just second nature to her. "Can I help you with something?"

"You really need to learn to control that tongue, woman," Reaper smirked. "You'd think that after all these years, you'd have learned by now." He edged slowly closer, his scythe getting even more sinister looking in Shego's eyes. "Am I going to have to teach you some manners, girlie?" he sneered. Of all the assassins under HYDRA, Grim Reaper was the one that Shego was most unnerved by, not that she would ever admit it.

"Calm yourself, Williams," Viper said, placing her gloved hand on his scythe. She then focused her attention back to Shego. "Shego, I understand that you had recently done a mission for Baron Strucker, over in London."

"Yes…I did," the reluctant villainess responded; she didn't want to have to go over that particular mission. "Strucker wanted a prototype weapon that AIM had promised him would be finished some time ago, and they were holding out. He sent me to retrieve it; that's what I did."

"Yes, I am aware of that, Shego, I have seen the device," Viper said, her smirk now slowly turning into a small frown. "That is not what I want to discuss. What I want to discuss is…why did you leave those pathetic bastards alive?"

"Why did I leave them alive?" Yep, this was what Shego was afraid of. How Viper even knew about it, she had no idea; she hadn't even told Strucker she had left survivors, which of course she wouldn't. How the hell did Viper know?

"Yes…why did you leave them alive?" Viper's voice now became lined with ice. "HYDRA leaves a very clear message when we are crossed-we do not tolerate back stabbing or betrayal and we always get what we desire. We demonstrate this with AIM, with Al Qaeda, with the Maggia…we demonstrate this with SHIELD, and the Avengers." She stepped closer to Shego. "For the last four years, you have had this problem ever since you joined HYDRA. We have offered you much-sanctuary, power, authority and wealth, and all Baron Strucker and the Red Skull ask of you is that you carry out his bidding, and if that entails murder then that is what you must do. But periodically, these last four years, you always find a way to keep yourself from doing just that. Shego, you tread on thin ice already with myself, with Reaper, with Crossbones, and let's not even go for HYDRA X; you are abusing the hospitality the Baron-"

"OK, hospitality?!" Shego suddenly roared, her fist glowing dangerously; she could not take any more of this incredulity, of their lies. "First of all, I was NEVER shown any hospitality by you people-you FORCED me to come and work for you; I never even had a choice, all Strucker had to do was use that Demon Claw! What you call hospitality, I call abuse and manipulation! What you call sanctuary and power, all I see is a place I'm forced to hide in and a people I'm forced to hide with because my chance for actually doing some good with my life was taken away by you people!"

"That's quite enough from you, Shego," Reaper snarled, his scythe suddenly very close to Shego's jugular. "You need to remember your place-!"

"Oh I remember my place in the world alright!" Shego snarled back, and with agility that she had mastered from her days on Team Go, she sweep kicked Grim Reaper and snap kicked Viper, sending them both sprawling.

"Oh, I have been wanting this so bad," Reaper sneered as he readied himself for battle.

"I feel disappointed already," Shego replied tauntingly. "But then again, you must hear that from a lot of women."

That proved to be the last straw for Eric Williams as he yelled in fury and jumped at Shego, who was just as ready for battle. With superb agility, she barely dodged Reaper's jumping ax kick and retaliated with her own snap kick, which Reaper also barely dodged. He then decided to simply resort to his scythe, and with a snarl, he began hacking and slashing away, making to severely injure Shego with each of his attacks, but Shego was just as quick and agile as the Grim Reaper was, and was able to dodge each of Reaper's slices and slashes, taking smug joy in increasing the fury building up in Reaper.

"Stay still, you little runt!" Reaper roared.

"Yeah, that's what I'll do," Shego mocked, suddenly changing the course of the battle by blasting Reaper's scythe. Being that it was recently coated with adamantium, she knew it wouldn't do much damage or harm, but it was definitely enough to knock Reaper of his feet and stumbling onto the ground. She walked over to his stumbled body, her fist blazing with green energy. "I have been waiting for a day like this ever since you guys dragged me into this," Shego snarled, ready to bring her fist down upon-

**CRACK!**

"You have made a grave mistake, Shego," Viper snarled viciously, her whip in one hand and her machine pistol in the other. With her whip, she snagged Shego's glowing fist, keeping her from bringing it down upon her fellow HYDRA assassin. But before Viper could do anything else, Shego grabbed the whip with her free hand and pulled, bring Viper flying into her other fist. As Viper crashed onto the floor, Reaper bum rushed Shego, sending her slamming into the hallway wall, but Shego kicks him off. Her fists glow viciously as she snarled, assessing her two opponents. Viper cracked her whip, a look of murder on her face, and Reaper readies his scythe, ready to jump. The three criminals make to leap at each other, ready to bring the hurt-

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?"

Instantly, the three of them froze; they knew enough to stop whatever they were doing once that German accent rang out. Shego, Viper and Grim Reaper stood at full attention as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker came up to them, flanked by four armed HYDRA soldiers…and the greatest weapon of HYDRA's arsenal: HYDRA X.

Seeing him never ceased to shock Shego.

"I am waiting for an answer!" Strucker said with a rising temper, his Demon Claw (personally, he preferred to call it the Satan Claw) now starting to glow dangerously, his eyes darting back and for between the three of them. "What. Happened. Here?"

Viper and Grim Reaper slowly turned to Shego, and Baron Strucker easily figured it out.

"Shego…" he snarled.

"What?! They started it!" Shego said with an angry and shocked tone with a hint of whining in it, pointing at the other two. But Baron Strucker was not having it; he was no Dr. Drakken that put up with her subtle whining and sarcasm. When he commanded discipline from his subjects and followers, he got it in any way, shape or form. Even if it meant setting an example.

"And what did they start exactly?"

"My Baron," Viper said dutifully as she stepped forward, the attention of HYDRA's leader now on her. "Shego has not given you a full report of the events of her mission to retrieve the prototype weapon from the AIM base in London. It has come to my attention that she left a few survivors."

…

…

"…Survivors?" Strucker's voice was icy enough to make Hell freeze over if need be.

Shego knew that there was no word, backtalk or sentence that could get her out of this situation now.

In a split second, Strucker's real hand was on Shego's throat, her body slammed against the hallway wall by the Baron. She then saw the Demon Claw glow even more dangerously, and Shego, despite how dangerous an opponent she could be, was instantly terrified. "Shego," Strucker snarled viciously as he slowly began applying pressure to her windpipe. "I did not send to London just to steal that weapon and have those AIM grunts run back to their master and whimper. I sent you there to leave MODOK an example of what happens when HYDRA is played or crossed. When I took you into HYDRA, I did so with the purpose of having your skill further our goals. I know just how dangerous you can be, Shego, and I expect that dark ferality inside you to blossom in battle when I send you to do my bidding." He applied a brunt and sudden pressure force upon her windpipe, making her slowly choke. To make his point even more obvious, he brought the Demon Claw mere centimeters from her face, Shego knowing full well what it was capable of. "I would usually make an example out of whoever acts as such…but you are an asset I cannot simply replace. But, if I learn again of you doing such a thing, Shego, I will have second thoughts about using my Claw upon you. Do I make myself clear?"

Shego, slowly losing her air, stared at her master defiantly. In her four years as a member of HYDRA, she had learned to keep her tongue still and learned her place in the organization. She learned what was expected of her, who not to piss of, and how she was supposed to operate. Before HYDRA, she knew she could easily kill, demonstrated every time she went up against Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. But she always held that part of her in; HYDRA, however, brought it out of her and, no matter how much she tried to rein it back in, they kept manipulating and using it. But Shego always had her way of defying Strucker and HYDRA, as she had always had that relationship with Drakken. Shego was not one to easily bow to anyone, even after HYDRA had forced her to all she had done these last four years.

"Not…taken in…" she rasped angrily and defiantly. "F…Forced…"

Strucker sneered. "And it has benefited HYDRA greatly." With that, he let her go, Shego collapsing onto the ground as she gasped for air. Strucker regarded her as if she were a used toy that had lost its luster, and then turned to walk back in the direction he had come from, not before yelling out, "As for you, Viper and Reaper, I do not tolerate provocation in between any of my followers, or the damage it can cause. Next time this happens, I will not be so kind in forgiving you." The Claw glowed dangerously again. "Am I clear?"

Even Reaper and Viper knew never to cross Strucker. He could strike fear if he really, REALLY needed to. "Yes, Baron Strucker."

"You are all dismissed. I must return to the scientists working on the Tesseract copy. Do not disturb me. Come, X."

And with that, Strucker and his guards continued on their way, and Viper and Reaper turned and left in the opposite direction. Shego managed to get up from the floor, only to see HYDRA X staring at her, a blank and neutral expression on his shades-covered face. He looked very dangerous and ready for battle in his uniform, the uniform that had been given to him from the moment he had been molded into HYDRA's perfect weapon. HYDRA X stared at her for a few seconds before briskly following the Baron back to wherever they were housing SHIELD's artificial Tesseract.

For a full minute, Shego stood there, alone on the balcony of the base building, staring after where HYDRA X had gone. Then with a soft yell, she jumped over the railing, down into the brush of the island-what little was left after it had been claimed by HYDRA-and ran, ran continuously until she reached the shores, letting her booted feet get soaked by the gushing waves that pounded at the sand. She stood there, staring down into the seas, angry tears slowly just beginning to escape from her eyes.

She hated Strucker.

She hated Viper.

She hated Reaper.

She hated Zemo and Crossbones and all of the grunts.

She hated HYDRA as a whole.

But she hated HYDRA X most of all.

Not just because he represented how much of a failure she had become since that one night, where her chance of redemption was brutally stolen from her.

But because for all these years, he had simply stood there and done nothing when the times of her humiliation by HYDRA came.

He was not the man she knew him as anymore, and sometimes she wondered if she was partly to blame.

Her angry tears continued to slowly descend from her eyes as she looked to the moon.

If only she had just taken Nick Fury's offer when she had the chance.

* * *

**_XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX_**

**_You all know what to do: review, drop some feedback, opinion, etc, etc._**

**_Again, thank you to everyone who is following and reading the story, it does mean a lot and gives me the motivation to continue. I do have some awesome plans for this story, don't worry ;D_**

**_Next chapter, we head back over to Kim and her...broken...life in college. Coming soon!_**

**_Until next time, readers._**


	4. Expected Failure

**_Welcome back dear readers. We continue on with Kim's life, and we get a taste here of what it's like here in her life at Upperton University, and a few more hints as to what exactly happened that fateful night just after Graduation. Enjoy :)_**

**_*Insert Disclaimer here*_**

* * *

Chapter 3: Expected Failure

* * *

***Upperton University Library Building, sunset. The Next Day***

There was something that was well known by all sophomores, juniors and seniors of Upperton University as an unspoken rule about being in the same school as Kim Possible.

You don't talk about Kim Possible, her missions or her past life with Kim Possible. Ever.

It was an established rule set in stone and recognized as law by almost all students and faculty of Upperton University by the third month of Kim's freshman year fall semester. In the early year, students had swarmed her once they learned that THE Kim Possible was a student on their campus. By this time, news of Kim's "disappearance" from missions was just barely starting to come out, and people were still learning about it. Kim was just starting to fall off the grid, and Monique was still getting into the groove of trying to shield her from the pain. So when the other students started swarming Kim about her hero life, about her missions and about Ron, asking where he was, it wasn't a pretty sight. Kim had almost instantly broken down on the spot, and everyone was shocked. As the days and weeks went by, the other UU students started noticing that Kim didn't go on missions, or have that famous Kimmunicator, or even connect with her sidekick Ron Stoppable; in fact, they were surprised that Stoppable's pet mole rat was with her. This wasn't the Kim Possible that the world knew…this was a whole other person before them, and it confused them. Something, they realized, must have happened, and so, soon, they stopped hassling her about her hero life, correctly deducting that it was over, having ended sometime between her high school graduation & start of college. What could have happened in that one summer?

Of course, every year, in fact with the start of every semester, the incoming freshmen would still try to approach her about her life, and some would ask why she stopped. They learned quick enough, thanks in part to the guidance of the older students. They couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Kim, wondering constantly what had happened to get her into this state. Of course, she was still the friendly person she had always been, but it was very noticeable how much she guarded herself. She just…wasn't the same Kim Possible she used to be. Soon, the excitement of Kim Possible being on campus would die down, and soon, pretty much, Kim Possible was just another student at Upperton University.

Kim doubted if she'd ever change back to how she used to be, or at least if she'd ever change from her current state period.

Sitting at her usual spot in the UU Library, Kim was working furiously on her Anatomy III homework, completely lost on the dissection chart she was supposed to have ready in only two days' time, Rufus by her side as always. She liked anatomy, having enjoyed it in her first year at UU, where she was still trying to figure out just what she wanted to do with her life, confused and crushed as it had become in those months afterwards. Between struggling with the trauma and realizing she needed to make a choice on a full time career since she wasn't in the hero game anymore, she was really having a difficult time. Finally, she had decided that she'd follow in her mother's footsteps and become a brain surgeon, something that Dr. Possible had been happy to hear, because it made her proud and because she hoped it would help Kim in this difficult path and time she was still in.

"Dammit, I still don't get this section over here," Kim sighed, stabbing her pen at a diagram of muscles in her textbook. "I know that the muscles here go in correlation to the lungs and the diaphragm…but this part…I got nothing." She dropped her pen to get some more of the M&Ms she had bought earlier. After popping a few in her mouth, she pushed the bag to Rufus. "Here you go, buddy; I know it's not Bueno Nacho, but it should do for now."

"Huh, I want Bueno Nacho," Rufus pouted, but nonetheless, being he was pretty hungry and being a mole rat he'd eat anything, he happily stuffed himself with the M&M's.

"Don't worry," Kim smirked as she rubbed Rufus' stomach. "We'll get some before we head to Brian's game tonight. I'm sure you're having quite the craving for some Nacos…actually, so am I."

"Awesome!" Rufus squeaked in triumph. "Sure?"

"No big. The game starts at seven, and it's barely 5:30 yet; we have time. Now," Kim said as she again picked up her pen, "what can you make of this?" Rufus immediately jumped to the textbook in front of Kim; although he was only a mole rat, Rufus would always try to help Kim out with her homework in any way he could. Of course, once he looked at the diagram that was stumping Kim, he knew he wasn't going to be of any help here, but still, he kept on trying, because that was just what Rufus would always to-help, especially Kim.

Meanwhile, at the mention of Brian escaping her lips, Kim couldn't help but think about her quarterback boyfriend. It was ironic how Bonnie was right four years later about Kim ending up with a jock-but Brian wasn't a typical jock-he was more of a nice guy than most jocks could be, and he was such a nice guy-patient, gentle, active and considerate. Kim really liked him and she was doing her damned hardest to make this ninth relationship work. She knew she was having too much trouble letting go of the past, and she wanted to move forward, make herself and her life better. She appreciated Brian, and he really liked her too, even though working through her issues was a hassle and sometimes hurt him, because he was willing to work with her about them. She liked that, and it meant a lot to her that-

"Excuse me?"

Kim and Rufus looked up to the side of their table, seeing a group high school students staring at her. Kim could tell they were high schoolers, mainly from how young they looked (15-17 compared to her 22), their attire and that UU was scheduled to have a high school staying overnight, to help students get a taste of college life or something like that. It didn't really matter to Kim, but they were here in front of her and she could see they needed some kind of assistance from their faces. "Yes?"

"Yeah, um…can you help us with something?" one of the high school students asked.

"Of course. What's the sitch?" Kim asked with a smile; being she was a senior at this college, she felt it was good of her to try and help them. "You guys are with the high school sleeping over here, right?" They nodded. "Ok, so you're looking for the building you're staying in?"

"Yeah, it's F-Guest Dorm," another student said.

"Ok, that's by the southern side of the campus, near the cafeteria building and the basketball courts. It has a large red flag with a panther in front of it, can't miss it," she answered with a smile.

"Ok, thanks," another said. They were just about to leave when…

"Wait a minute…" one of them said with realization, seeing Kim with new eyes. "You're…you're Kim Possible, right?" At that, the other students turned rapidly around to face the red-head. And instantly, that old painful feeling that Kim would get in situations like this started coming out again. Rufus instantly started scrambling for Kim, and he jumped onto her shoulder, as he always would, to help her and support her. This wasn't lost on the students.

"And that was your sidekick's rat! Where is he, anyways?"

At that, Kim just couldn't…

"I..I have to go," she said hurriedly, stuffing her books and pens into her bag and making a mad beeline for the library exit, leaving the high schoolers standing very confused there. Once out the door, Kim took in her surroundings, seeing that the area didn't have that many people around…and started running, running like hell, her eyes slowly beginning to leak tears as she tried with all her might to force the images down, beat back the pain and anguish that came with those images and the events that had happened that fateful night, wishing with all her heart that she could somehow change the past and fix it, but it was never to be. She was damned….she was broken…she was never going to be able to let go of it, of any of it. It was seared into her brain and eyes. Rufus himself, despite how much she loved the little guy, was a constant living reminder of what happened, and it hurt her to her core.

Where was she running to? She had no idea, but it was helping her ease the pain…at least that was what she told herself. She had gotten very good at running away these last four years. So she ran and ran, exiting the campus grounds and into Upperton, Rufus dangling on her shoulder.

She never noticed the red falcon she dubbed Scarlet following her from above, its eye glinting.

* * *

***Uppeton University Football Field, that night***

"With only 10 seconds left in the game, it all comes down once again to Upperton's all-star quarterback, Brian Richards! He's managed to get the Upperton Panthers out of jams before, and judging by the yells by their supporters, they're confident he'll do it again!"

Brian raised his hands in confidence to the roars and screams and yells of his fellow student body, their cries supporting him and his team as they made their final push to claim the final seat to the finals for the national College Football Association Playoffs, and Brian wanted a spot and not only would he win it if they won the game, but Upperton would win the right to have the Playoffs here in its own city. It'd sure keep him from having to travel away anywhere.

On the sidelines, Monique and her fellow cheerleaders chanted their cheer as they gave their own support to the Panthers and their all-star quarterback. Monique had decided to take up cheerleading in her second year, having been inspired by Kim and Bonnie and Tara and the others on the team back in high school. Kim had been helpful in motivating her to keep to that dream, and as a result, by her junior year spring semester, Monique had managed to land herself as head Panthers cheerleader. It had been through this position that she had introduced Kim to Brian.

With the sounds of a whistle, the game resumed and the Panthers unleashed their secret defensive-offensive style formation. With Brian holding the ball, four of the team circled around him in defensive formation as the rest bum rushed, tackled, blocked and piledrived the opposing team that kept trying to get the football from Brian. It was looking to be a success, but at four seconds left, the defensive circle was broken by the opposing team's beefiest players, and that left Brian open for a slew of enemy team members to bum rush him. Luckily, Brian was much faster than his enemies thought, thanks to everyday hour long 5 mile jogs since he was in high school. With extra bursts of speed, he managed to pull ahead, expertly dodging the tackling opposing team, managing to get a final touchdown for the Panthers by the last second. And with that, it was game for the Upperton Panthers.

"AND RICHARDS MAKES THE TOUCHDOWN! THE UPPERTON PANTHERS HAVE LANDED THE FINAL SOCKET IN THE PLAYOFFS FOR THIS YEAR!" the announcer yelled into his mic as the Upperton student body and locals screamed in triumph, applause echoing thunderously as they cheered the success of their team. In sheer joy, the other Panthers hoisted Brian up on their shoulders in triumph, Brian himself pounding his fists into the air in sheer joy. As the announcer continued to shout out the Panthers' victory and the other UU students began dashing onto the field to join in the celebration, Brian then looked to Monique, who was still standing with her fellow cheerleaders and chanting and dancing their cheer. He caught her eye and mouthed his question.

Monique faltered slightly and with a sigh, she slowly shook her head.

With that, a good chunk of Brian's pride was trashed. In denial, he searched the mass of students himself, looking for any sign of her, but Monique was right. She was nowhere to be found; Brian sighed in defeat, accepting the truth.

Kim didn't even bother to show up.

* * *

***40 minutes later***

Kim followed Rufus slowly, the naked mole rat dashing at his rodent speed, back through the campus entrance, her eyes lost to her environment and her mind cluttered with thoughts and longings of "what if." She had managed to stop her tears after a good while, but she had not stopped running even when her legs screamed in pain. It was only by her almost being run over by a bus did she finally stop running, and it had indeed been a close call. Rufus had even nagged her about it, and Rufus almost never nagged at her like that. She had brought herself back under control a bit, but the encounter with those high school students and her mention of Ron just opened up the scars again, and she sank back her despair. She struggled to keep it from happening, but the fond memories she had with Ron during high school kept popping into her mind-when he bought her that jacket that she actually never wore until after they started dating, when they met the movie stars that would play them in a cancelled movie based on them, when they succeeded in bringing down Drakken in junior year and the events that led up to their momentous kiss, their graduation and victory, and their beach party celebration with their friends, and when they had flown off together, found a romantic and secluded spot, and she proved to him just how much she really loved him…that had been one of the most fantastic nights of her life. She had been Ron's and Ron had been hers, in mind, body and soul. It was magical for her, and she knew, then and there, that there would be no other for her except Ron. He had proven to her that there would be no other for him except her, and she loved him even more since that night.

And then, the sweet girlish dream/fantasy came crashing down back to the world of reality…

Kim had managed to find the Bueno Nacho, and just spent a good part of the night there. It wasn't Ned's place, but it was just as good a Bueno Nacho as any, and they loved her as a regular; Ron's fame for being a Bueno Nacho fan preceded her. They surprisingly never asked about him, and for that she was grateful. They just gave her her food and she and Rufus would spent a good couple of hours there. That was the case tonight, except it was for more than a few hours this night. Finally, the restaurant had to close and Kim realized she needed to head back to campus. Now, as she continued to walk along the grounds, heading to her dorm, she slung her backpack closer to her, watching Rufus as he darted along, leading the way home.

"KIM!"

Kim was surprised to hear Monique's voice and she turned to see her best friend dashing up to her, clad in her head cheerleader uniform.

"Kim, where were you, girl?! I've been looking all over for you!" Monique gasped as she reached Kim and Rufus, out of breath from much running. "Brian is-!"

"Whoa, Monique, slow down and breathe," Kim cautioned as she helped her friend catch her breath. "What's the sitch, and what about Brian?"

"What about-? Kim, he is really upset right now; you missed the game, after you promised him you'd be there!"

Crap, she had completely forgotten about the game…dammit, dammit, dammit! Her problems were again taking a toll on her relationships…

"Oh God…Monique, where is he?"

"At the cafeteria building, along with pretty much the entire school, celebrating the team winning the game and getting into the playoffs," Monique said as she looked at Kim. "Kim, how could you forget Brian's game? He's been talking about it these last few weeks non-stop…Kim, what happened?"

"Well…some high schoolers from the visiting school found me and…asked about Ron," Kim sighed with defeat.

"Kim," Monique sighed as she held Kim's shoulder. But before she could continue…

"Kim!" The two girls turned to see Brian heading towards them, and he had an upset look on his face. As he approached them, Monique instantly stepped back a few, recognizing that this wasn't her business. Brian reached Kim, and she could see that Brian was indeed upset, and she hated and felt guilty about the fact that it was her fault-that she, his girlfriend, had broken her promise to him.

"Brian," Kim began to say. "Brian, listen, I'm…I'm so sorry I missed your game, I didn't-"

"Kim," Brian interrupted. He sighed heavily before asking, "Where are we?"

That caught her by surprise. "What-what do you mean?"

"Where are we right now, in our relationship?" Brian specified. "Kim…you've been acting like this for a while, and you know I'm patient; I've tried to help you with your problems and depressions ever since we started dating, and I have wanted to make it work, God, I tried to make this work. But Kim…it keeps getting in the way between us-US, and it hurts, you know? I still don't know what happened to you that made you like this, instead of the teen hero I heard about before I met you, and now, I'm starting to doubt I'll ever really know. Kim, this pushing away, this keeping to yourself…it's hurting me, and I don't like it. I want to know you, understand you…I want this relationship to work, but if this keeps happening, I don't think I can continue on with this going on every so often. I wish this would change." He looked Kim dead in the eyes. "Kim, I really like you, but I can't be in this kind of relationship, with your issues constantly interrupting this. I need to know it will change if I stay. Can you do that, Kim? Can't you change this…for me?"

Kim looked him in the eyes. She was trying really hard to keep herself together. She wanted to scream, let it all out with Brian, let him fully in and relent and tell him everything that happened since the night of the "Incident," because dammit, she wanted this to work, she didn't want to mess this up with Brian. But no matter how much she wanted to…a part of her refused to open up to him, refused to let him in and relent it all to him. Why? Because she was afraid; afraid that she'd lose someone else who she could trust and confide in and…love again. Kim couldn't bear to go through another ordeal like that again. She was barely still recovered from the last one. How could she manage a second time?

It was with a heavy heart that Kim sighed, let her head down to avoid Brian's eyes, and said softly, "I-I don't…don't think I can…I'm sorry Brian, but…I don't think I can change."

Brian sighed, wishing he didn't have to do this. "Then I'm sorry, Kim…I can't keep doing this."

"So, you're breaking up with me." She didn't mean it as a question.

"…Yeah, I am," he replied. "I'm sorry, Kim, but I can't keep doing this. We're…we're done." He sighed heavily, and then turned to return to the party, but stopped and said back to her, "But I hope we can still…try to be friends, at least." With that, he walked away, heading back to the party and his team.

Monique walked up to Kim, who was watching Brian leave, not just physically but emotionally as well. "Kim?" The red head looked at her. "Are…are you ok?"

"I don't know," Kim said softly as she picked up Rufus, who had been standing next to her the whole time, watching the ordeal of another break-up in Kim's life. "I guess…I'm surprised and a bit hurt…but I also kind of expected it to happen sooner or later, especially after I realized I missed his game."

"Did you really mean what you said about changing?"

"…I don't know…I said it but…I don't know what to think anymore," Kim said as Monique embraced her tightly. She really wished Kim could go back to being the confident and heroic Kim Possible she used to be, but even she was now starting to doubt Kim would ever move on any time soon.

* * *

***Kim & Monique's dorm, 1 hour later***

Monique had headed off to her night shift at the Upperton Club Banana superstore, leaving Kim alone for tonight with Rufus. She was pretty much the only one in her building, since the party for the Panthers was still going strong. She had simply watched TV for about an hour, not really paying attention to what she was watching as she pet Rufus, who soon fell asleep. Finally, Kim turned off the TV, decided she might as well get some sleep too. Picking up the sleeping mole rat, she placed him on his make shift bed on her night table and sank into her bed, not even bothering to take off her clothes from the day. She simply stared at the ceiling, willing her mind clear and blank, and 15 minutes later, sleep finally overtook her as she descended into a deep slumber.

It was 37 minutes later that she started tossing and turning in her bed, softly moaning and groaning and whimpering, evidence of another nightmare.

"No…no…"

_"Curse you, Kim Possible!...and your sidekick whose name I forget at the moment."_

_"It's over, Drakken! You should've stuck to the good side."_

_"If you want something done right…!"_

_"AAAAUUUURRRRGGHHH!"_

_"Ohmygod!"_

"No…please, no..!"

_"Shego?!"_

_"Kimmie, Stoppable, get out of here!"_

_"Dreadnoughts! Destroy these two children!_

_"Designation: Kim Possible. Objective: Eliminate."_

_"KP, RUN! I got you're back!"_

_"WADE, WE NEED HELP!"_

_"HAIL HYDRA!"_

"Nononononono…"

_"Ron, there's too many of them!"_

_"Let's see how you fare against me, kid."_

_"STAY AWAY FROM HER, BASTARD! AAAAHHHHHH! *Monkey screech*"_

_"You think you know evil, fraulein? He was a pathetic excuse of a foe…let me show you the true face of evil…show me how well you fare against my Satan's Claw."_

_"Ron, we need to get out of here!"_

"Please…no…!"

_"Goodbye, girlie!"_

_"NOOOOO!"_

**_"ROOOOOONNNNNNNNNN-!"_**

"NOOOOO!"

With a scream, Kim jolted awake, her tears bursting as she came back to reality. The scream also awoke Rufus, and turning to see her sobbing form, he instantly knew what had happened; she had the same nightmare again…the one of the night of the "Incident." He instantly made a dash for her, reaching her and taking her in an embrace, or as best an embrace as a naked mole rat could give.

Kim continued to sob, her hands grasping at her covers for the comfort she would never find. That nightmare had been plaguing her since that damned night, and she knew now that it would never leave her be. It would serve to be a constant reminder, even in her attempts to find solace in sleep, of what she couldn't do, what she had failed to do, how far she had fallen, and what she was and had become since then-a failure.

Kim Possible was failure.

From the moment Ron Stoppable had died in her arms.

* * *

**_XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX_**

**_Bam. Didn't see that coming did you?...Ok some of you probably did, but wait! There's still more to this than what meets the eye. So, what did you think? Remember to review and all that good stuff, I love hearing from you guys._**

**_Thanks again for your support for the story here, and I invite you to check out my new story, "Chaos and Spiders," about Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man_**

**_Next Chapter coming soon, so until next time, readers._**


	5. Grievance and Guardian Angels

_**After the last chapter, I know some people were surprised. So in this chapter, besides seeing some familiar faces, we'll delve just a BIT more into the details of just what happened the night Ron Stoppable died. This chapter came pretty quickly after the last update, so I hope you all love it. Enjoy :D**_

_**Disclaimer Goes *HERE***_

* * *

Chapter 4: Grievance and Guardian Angels

* * *

***15 minutes later***

Each member of his team was supposed to do this. They would rotate every few months, but their presence would always be there. And even if none of them could do it at all for catastrophic reasons, they always had a place nearby where others would take the watch until one of his team (the best of their best, as they were called), and there were always those two that would keep their positions.

There he sat, on the rooftop just outside the grounds of the campus, adorned in his black and dark purple uniform, his shades on, his trusted weapon at hand and his short blonde hair catching in the night breeze. He had kept to his target, and he hadn't lost her the whole night. He had already done this a few times in the last four years. He couldn't help but feel bad for her, all she had had to suffer and go through. God forbid, if something happened to his wife…

He caught movement, and knowing that all the other students were still in the party, he knew instantly who it was. "Wha-again?" he mused as he watched her dash away, out of the campus and again into the bustle of the city's night life. "That's the second time…dammit." He reached for his ear piece comm. "Base, the subject is on the move…again. In pursuit now."

"Copy that," a male voice replied. "Don't lose sight; Wilson is heading your way to join you for the double duty soon."

"Copy that, Quartermain." With that, the watcher picked up his bow, made sure his quiver was attached and ready, and he darted off into the night, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, never losing sight of his target.

* * *

***Meanwhile…***

Kim ran; where she was going, she had no idea. She just knew she couldn't be in her bed. She didn't want to go through that horrible nightmare again. She hated it with every fiber of her being. Wasn't it enough that every waking moment of her life she felt like a failure? Did it have to infiltrate her dreams and sleep, too? Was it really necessary for her to have to relive that horrible experience every so often and awake to the harsh truth of its reality?

Rufus dangled on her shoulder, trying to figure out just how he could help his new companion. But he knew there was just no way to help her unless she could finally help herself. But with such trauma…the blood, HIS blood, in her hands as he breathed his last…you just can't recover from something like that so easily.

Wade had learned that Drakken was trying one last "take over the world" scheme, and he had gotten Shego to help him out in collecting what he needed. Kim and Ron-who had spent basically every day since Graduation honing his Mystical Monkey Power, training himself and slowly mastering the powers he held (when she asked, he said it was to better protect her, like he did during the invasion)-had been surprised by this fact, but nonetheless, being they were heroes, they went out to confront this problem head on. Wade had located Drakken's newest base, somewhere in southern Italy, and Team Possible was off on the adventure. Upon arrival, Wade found out about a last minute detail-Drakken was working with a client, someone named "Mr. Strucker," who was representing a potential partner that was interested in working with Drakken. It was an interesting detail, but at the moment it didn't matter. Kim, Ron and Rufus had charged in, and soon they had defeated Drakken's henchmen and Shego, and had stopped his plan. He was hoping to finally complete a doomsday device that would bring the world to its knees; Kim didn't remember what the device was supposed to do anymore, all those years taking their toll.

She did, however, vividly remember the events that transpired right after Drakken was beaten.

She had noticed that man, "Mr. Strucker," and the four individuals that were with him, by Drakken. They didn't strike out as overly important, just more guys to deliver to Global Justice and Dr. Director. She was wrong…oh so wrong.

It was Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, the dreaded and sadistic leader of HYDRA…a terrorist organization notorious worldwide. And Kim never fought an enemy of that caliber.

Strucker had struck at Drakken, and she could still hear his anguished and painful screams as the Satan Claw withered the villain. Shego was horrified, and yelled at Kim and Ron to get out while they still could…but Strucker wasn't having any of it. He was pissed…apparently, Team Possible had foiled his plans, and he wanted retribution. With a crash and a roar of high caliber gunfire, HYDRA soldiers and machines (Dreadnoughts, she remembered them to be called), ambushed the two of them; it was a brutal battle, and then Strucker's associates joined in, and they were vicious and deranged. Baron Zemo, the sword wielder; Viper, the femme fatale; Crossbones, the soldier type; and Grim Reaper, the one with the scythe…oh god, the scythe…

No, she couldn't think about it…but it just kept coming…

Kim and Ron had fought, and hard. But they were being overwhelmed badly; Kim begged Wade to get them help, and Ron was tapping deep into the Mystical Monkey Power to give them some kind of edge, trashing Dreadnoughts by the fives, but they just kept coming, and soon, he was battling Grim Reaper and Crossbones. Kim somehow ended up against Strucker himself…

Then, Reaper had her…he had her and was ready to slaughter her…but Ron, the faithful boyfriend, her champion and life, her BF/BF, he who never ceased to prove just how much he loved her…took the blow for her. It had totally torn her to apart…she could still hear herself shrieking in horror.

She had dragged his dying form out of the wreckage of the base, now aflame…she tried to make the bleeding stop…he was slipping away…and she realized she had failed. She never knew what became of Drakken or Shego since that night, but she knew that Strucker and HYDRA had escaped into the night.

Since that one moment, when Ron breathed his last, his final words, "I love you," escaping his lips…Kim shut down.

Through the funeral, the wake, and the burial….everything…she was shut down and heartbroken. When she had tried to say words for him at his funeral, she couldn't bring herself to it, and broke down into tears. She had been the very last person to leave the graveyard after he had been buried, staying well into the night, sitting by his grave and apologizing over and over for failing to save him. She wished he never took the hit for her. She had been traumatized; every night for the entire summer she had cried herself to sleep, unable to deal with the trauma and loss she had endured that night. She had lost Ron, her BF/BF, the guy it took forever for her to realize was the one for her. Kim had lost a piece of herself and her life when Ron died…a part of Kim Possible had died with Ron Stoppable.

But the pain and humiliation hadn't stopped there.

The Stoppables were beyond grieved when they learned their son had died. Their anguish was on par with that of Kim's and she knew just what they were feeling. She was the one who had to break the news to them, and that hurt even more. They didn't understand why she was sobbing until she told them they had lost their son. She knew they'd be beyond upset, that they'd scream in loss and agony, that they'd be hysterical…but she didn't expect them to BLAME her for his death.

_"WHY DID YOU LET HIM DIE?!"_

That was the biggest blow of the whole event, to have the parents of the man she loved blame her for his death. They grew to hate her, despise her, because they saw it as her fault that their son had died. Hanna was still too young to fully understand what was going on, but she soon caught on that Ron was gone and was never coming back. But since she was only a baby, it wasn't as if she could blame Kim; even now, at the age of six, smarter than most children her age because of what she was, she still didn't blame Kim. In fact, she adored her and would always rush to be with her the few times Kim would come home to visit her family. But the Stoppable parents, there was no more warmth towards her. To them, it was all her fault that their son was killed, and soon Kim started to believe it herself-she had brought him with her, and if she didn't he would still be alive today. It was her fault he was on that mission, that he was even in that life with her. It broke what little spirit she had left.

For that, she quit. All of it, the missions, the favors, the heroics, she stopped and never wanted to have anything to do with it again. She couldn't bear to deal with such another incident again. She was done with her hero life, and for that, she had no reason to deal with Wade anymore, even though he was one of her greatest friends, and he had been one of the only reasons she hadn't killed herself out of shame.

_*Flashback*_

_"You're…you're quitting?" he asked with shock._

_"Take it all down, Wade," she said softly, her eyes still red from her sobbing hysterics just minutes ago. "The website, everything. I'm done…I'm out of the game now; I never want to do this again."_

_"Are you sure, Kim?" Wade asked, trying to convince her otherwise. "People need you out there. They need Kim Possible-"_

_"There are more than enough superheroes in this world, Wade…there's SHIELD and SWORD and Global Justice and Team Go, Avengers, X-Men…let THEM handle it all…I…can't do it…I'm sorry but I can't, Wade. Not after this."_

_"…Ok, Kim," the 13 year old super genius sighed. "What do I do after?"_

_"I'm sending you everything-the battle suit, the uniform, the gadgets-everything."_

_"Even the Kimmunicator?"_

_"Even that."_

_"Ok…I'm sending the mail address now."_

_"Wade…"_

_"…Yeah?" He didn't like the sound of her voice._

_"This has been a great time, but if I'm out of the game…I don't need you anymore…and I don't want to remember this life."_

_"Wha-what are you saying?"_

_"After I send the stuff," Kim said, her tears now returning again, "don't contact me, in any way, at all. I'm sorry, Wade, I really am, but I don't want anything to remind me of this life…of any of it…goodbye, Wade."_

_*End Flashback*_

Kim managed to end up in the Upperton City Park, by the small man-made lake in the center. She found a bench by the pathway and sat down, the moonlight capturing her beautiful form perfectly. If someone passed by right now, even in her saddened state, they would still say she was one of the most beautiful women they had ever seen. Sitting there, Kim stared at the water; Rufus got off her shoulder and sat next to her on the bench, sighing. He knew Kim was in a really bad funk and it would take some kind of miracle to get her out of it. He vividly remembered her anguished and hysterical cries of pain and loss when she held his former master's dead body close to her, screaming his name and begging him to wake up, not even noticing the arriving law enforcement until they had to tear her away from him. From that moment, he always remained at Kim's side, because he knew that Ron would want that, he would want someone to watch over Kim that he could trust, and Ron trusted no one like he trusted Rufus, except for Kim.

Kim wiped her eyes dry as she remembered that call, the one where she cut off all ties with Wade. She hated to do it, but she needed to, because it was just too painful. He, Monique and her family were the only ones who barely managed to hold her together in that time and she had pushed Wade away. Since then, she had indeed never heard from him again, ever. She assumed by now he would be 16 or 17, and probably had started his own high tech company; it wouldn't surprise her. Wade was a good friend, one of her greatest, and she had not spoken to him in years. She was slowly growing more distant from her family, and she even had begun to distance herself from Monique. She hated it, but she couldn't help herself-she was trapped in herself, her walls created specifically to keep all pain out, but also keeping all good out too as a side effect.

Kim needed Ron, badly, but she knew that he was lost to her forever, and it was all her fault. She couldn't save him. She failed him.

"I'm so sorry, Ron," she whispered, her eyes shedding two last tears. "I miss you so much and I wish you were here now…I loved you so much, and I know you loved me, too. I wish you were here to see it."

For another 10 minutes, Kim sat there, until Rufus tugged at her. "C'mon, gotta go home," he squeaked.

Sighing, Kim stood up. "Yeah I guess you're right," she agreed. Taking her bag (which she somehow had rationalized to take with her as she darted out of her dorm), she and Rufus began to head on home, walking in the night. Rufus jumped into her bag's side pocket, going along for the ride. Kim headed under a small stone bridge, down a path that would get her to the park exit quicker. Lost in her thoughts, she didn't see the seven thugs ahead of her.

"Hey, baby."

Her head snapped up, her eyes narrowing in disgust. "What the fuck?"

"Where you heading off to at a time like this?" another thug sneered, his hand coming out of his pocket, revealing a short knife. The other six soon took positions around her, surrounding her. "Pretty baby like you can get hurt around here, you know?"

"Get loss, douche," Kim snapped, trying to get away, but the thugs just blocked her path.

"Not so fast," one chuckled, grabbing her arm. "To pass, you gotta pay us toll; and if you don't got the cash," he added, leering at her figure, "we take…alternative forms of payment."

"So not the drama!" Kim snapped, ripping her arm out of her grasp.

"Get her boys!" the thug leaders sneered. Two thugs then tackled her, making to slam her into the ground and let them all have their way with her-only to be kicked back and roundhouse kicked in the face.

Kim Possible was out OF THE game, but it didn't mean she was out OF HER game.

The thugs instantly all made on her, making to bring her down with superior numbers, but Kim had fought off numerous trained grunts in her time, and street thugs were no big for her…if she were in her prime, that is. With four years out of commission, Kim was a tad rusty, and she had forgotten it. She was staggered by a haymaker, and though she was able to retaliate with a sweep kick, she was then hit with an uppercut to her chin. Kim, however, was still a good fighter, and she proved it in this moment as she fought these thugs for the sake of her honor and dignity. She was not going to get raped by a bunch of petty thugs, and she was going to give them a hell of a thrashing-

Her thoughts were interrupted as a thug managed to tackle her from behind as she had been concentrating on blocking the hits from two others in front of her while simultaneously keeping an eye on the other thugs on her sides. Instantly, the moment she hit the ground, she felt the thug groping her breast, but his position on her made it very easy to snap her head back into his nose, causing it to bleed profoundly as he rolled off. At that, she instantly pounced up and landed a good haymaker at one of the other approaching thugs, sending onto the floor, but she left her side exposed and another thug landed a good kick, sending her sprawling onto the floor and into the base of a nearby tree. Groaning in pain and anger, she grasped at her side, now aching in pain, but she wasn't about to give up, and she made to get up and get back in the fight-

When she saw the thugs surrounding her, their knives in hand…and Kim froze; her mind was suddenly bombarded by the image of the Grim Reaper standing over her like that on that night, his scythe poised to run her through…that image was one of her worst memories, and she instantly flew into fear and horror. The thugs saw this and sneered, thinking they had finally gotten the better of her.

"Aw, what's the matter, you scared?" one of them mocked as they all started unzipping their pants. "Don't worry…we'll take good care of you right-!"

**THONK!**

He instantly fell to the ground unconscious, shocking Kim and the other thugs. Turning, they saw a blond man with dark shade dressed in black and dark purple uniform fatigues, side arms on his legs, a quiver full of arrows on his back and a military grade bow in his hands. And he looked pretty pissed off.

"You know something?" he snarled. "I really hate rapists." And with that, he dived into the body of shocked thugs, bow in hand, as he brought out an array of martial arts techniques, crippling the thugs as they yelled out in agony and pain, screaming in shock and confusion as he made quick work of them, utilizing his fists and his bow to beat them. All the while, Kim sat there in shock and awe, watching her random savior make mincemeat out of her attackers. It was like watching her and Ron back in the day as they fought the droves of henchmen under Drakken or Dementor or Monkey Fist.

After only 15 seconds, the last thug fell down, unconscious. The man stood among the bodies of the moaning and unconscious potential rapists. Shouldering his bow, he turned to Kim and walked over to her, stretching his hand out to her to help her up, which Kim graciously accepted. "You shouldn't be running around this time of night in parks, miss," he said. "Not so good for the stress levels…or for a good time. Next time, stay at home."

Kim stared at him in wonder. "Who…who are you?"

Before he could reply, the thug leader suddenly got up, brandishing a revolver in his hand. "You think you tough, motherfucker?!" he yelled, trying to aim at the blonde man. "How you like me now?! How you like this-?!"

He was instantly silenced by death's hold as the man snapped around with amazing speed, an arrow suddenly in his hand and threw it at the thug, landing a direct hit in his forehead. Kim stared at this with shock and surprise. The man simply walked over to the dead thug and pulled out the bloody arrow from his skull. Returning it to his quiver, he made to leave, but then stopped, turned to Kim and said, "Call me…a guardian angel, of sorts. Get home safely." With that, he disappeared into the night.

Kim stood there, confused at what had just happened, but thankful to her savior for what he had done for her. It was…odd, though; he happened to be armed, and with such unconventional weapons at that? And she could've sworn she saw some kind of insignia on his left chest on his clothes, but she couldn't remember what it was…with a sigh, Kim picked up her fallen bag, and checking to see that a quivering Rufus looked at her with frightened eyes, she soothed him and let him know it was over, and headed out the park, on her way home to campus.

* * *

***On a nearby rooftop…***

"Hawkeye to Quartermain," he said into his comm as he watched Kim Possible walk along back to her dorm at UU. "There was a…incident involving Subject Chaos."

"Define 'incident,' Barton," Quartermain's voice replied.

"Some thugs attempted to rape her," Hawkeye said as he darted along the building rooftops, keeping up with the red head. "She tried to fight them off, but she froze suddenly; I had to intervene."

"What, no one else was around, Barton?" another voice mused through the comm.

"No, Wilson, no one, not even any birds, mind you."

"Barton and Wilson, so help me, if you start arguing again, you will both be on Helicarrier air deck cleaning duty. Wilson, your position?"

"Reaching the campus now, Quartermain."

"Good; you both know the drill by now. Transport will be there for you by 1100 tomorrow, Barton. Until then, sit tight and keep eyes on Subject Chaos." There was a pause, and the sounds of a few muffled voices. "We're arriving near Fiji. Fury, Hill and Coulson will be offline for a while. Just keep on the target."

"Copy that, Quartermain," Barton & Wilson answered.

"Good. Until the next update; Quartermain out."

"Hawkeye out."

"Falcon out."

* * *

**_XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX_**

**_So, SHIELD is keeping tabs on Kim? What's that about? Remember to review and leave opinions and feedback, guys, your support is awesome and appreciated._**

**_Next up, like Quartermain mentioned, we'll be going back to Fiji for a bit, and we'll be seeming some more SHIELD._**

**_It's all coming soon, so until next time, readers_**


	6. A Shocking Revelation

_**Well, to start off, thank you all for reading and supporting this story, it means a lot to me, especially since it's my first KP FanFic :) I'm glad people like it. Now, anyways, as stated last chapter, we head back to Fiji, where SHIELD is trying to figure out what just happened...and learns something shocking. Enjoy :D**_

_***Insert disclaimer here***_

* * *

Chapter 5: A Shocking Revelation

* * *

***Island of Batiki, Fiji. SHIELD research/weapons base. Same time***

"And he's sure she wasn't in any other danger Quartermain?"

"Director Fury, you have a comm connection to him," Quartermain's voice deadpanned. "You can just open a channel and ask him yourself. But since you won't, yes, he's sure she wasn't in any more immediate danger, sir. Hawkeye and Falcon are currently on point, keeping watch. They'll let us know if anything else goes on."

"Very well, Quartermain," Fury said, rolling his eye as he looked to the Fiji daytime sky, were 500ft above were a few squadrons of SHIELD helicopters. Of course they would be here; this was a supposedly secure secret base that only his Secret Warriors, Hill, Coulson, Quartermain, Sitwell, the agents that worked and lived here, and he himself knew about. It was extremely top secret, both the existence of the base, and what it housed inside. Now, thanks to an assassin that had been plaguing SHIELD and the world for the last three years, it wasn't so secret anymore. His mind returned at that moment to the one other agent in SHIELD that knew of this bases location, and he instantly felt saddened, albeit his facial expressions wouldn't show it. "Any update of Agent Woo's status?"

"Nick…" Quartermain sighed; he too was ridden with sorrow due to their fellow agent's critical condition. HYDRA X had spared no mercy in torturing him. "It's the same still…he's still weak and it's hard for him to speak for long periods of time, but he's hanging in there. The doctors are still working on getting his blood circulation back to normal, and they're wondering if he'll be able to use his right hand ever again. But they at least know he'll live. I'm sorry, Nick, but that's all there is to say."

Fury sighed, looking towards the base where this whole thing started and where many of the SHIELD agents under his command had lost their lives, all because of one sadistic assassin that had managed to somehow break one of his best men. A good portion of said dead agents were natives to Fiji; he knew that those families that would be getting the news would be devastated…all because of that SOB called HYDRA X. He vowed, right then and there, that he was going to make sure this sunuvabitch got what he had coming.

"Understood; keep things running on your end. Fury out."

"Got it, Director."

With that, SHIELD Director Nick Fury got off the jeep, and walked to his waiting right and left hands-SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson, team leader of the Secret Warriors, and SHIELD Commander Maria Hill, his second-in-command. "Let's go," he said. His tone told Coulson and Hill that he was going to do everything in his power to get this done, and done right. Without another word, Fury turned and walked to the SHIELD base, his black trench coat billowing softly in the island breeze, Coulson and Hill following on his right and left side, respectively. Upon arriving at the gates to the SHIELD base, they were welcomed by the sight of SHIELD guards and forensic teams, tending to the scenes of death. Where the bodies of the gate guard had been, only tape outlines remained to show just where they had collapsed when death had prematurely taken them. The three of them could see another SHIELD forensic team tending to the tree sniper nest, where the sniper had also met his fate. Now usually, when the Director of SHIELD is present, everyone would stop what they were doing and make the proper salutes; at the moment, time was of the essence and so they didn't and Fury was glad they didn't. Without a word, he kept on going, Hill and Coulson following. Inside, they walked past the security monitor room and went for what was confirmed as the first point of engagement.

"Boss," Coulson said. "We need to start getting all our assets together to find the Tesseract. It may be just an artificial copy, but it can still do some heavy damage, especially now that it's in Strucker's hands."

"I'm not concerned about what Strucker will do with it," Fury countered. "I'm concerned about what Schmitz will do with it."

"The Red Skull?" Hill inquired. "Sir, Red Skull has been under heavy lock and guard in Hydro-Base for the last five years, since he was exposed from his Dell Rusk identity."

"I know that, Hill, but Hydro-Base isn't exactly difficult to arrive at, and you remember that incident where HYDRA grunts led by Reaper almost managed to break out Strucker from the Vault some 8 years ago. What's to say they won't do the same with Skull? I trust Hydro-Base security, but the circumstances are very delicate at the moment. Once we're done here, I want the order carried out-the Red Skull is to be transferred from Hydro-Base to 42, soon as possible."

"Sir…the only entrance to 42 is located in the Raft, and that's off the coast of New York. That's very risky to do," Hill countered.

"Which is why I want it done as quickly and quietly as possible; I want select agents handling the transport, and none of them already based at Hydro-Base. Anywhere else, but not Hydro-Base."

"Hill has a point, Boss, but if you are going to go for it, we should have one or two of the Warriors on the transport, too," Coulson offered. "I recommend either Drew or Phobos, perhaps even both."

"As long as Skull gets to a 42 cell safe and sound, I don't care if you get that psycho ass Deadpool to cover the transport." Fury then turned his head abruptly towards Coulson. "I say that with complete humor and don't actually want you doing that."

"Got it, Boss," Coulson smirked.

They arrived at the site of the first confrontation against HYDRA X. Where the body of the lone agent had been, only tape marked where his body had been thrown, a SHIELD forensic team going over the scene with every tool at their disposal. The lead forensic saw that they had arrived and came over to them. "Director, Commander, Agent," he greeted with a swift salute.

"What do you have for us, Agent?" Fury asked briskly; he wanted to get to the point, and now.

"From what we gathered from the body, Agent Timmons had his neck snapped efficiently and with training that rivals SHIELD's," he replied. "It occurred from leg muscle, and despite what television tells us, it is very difficult to snap one's neck with one's own legs. That takes very profound training, and maybe even a bit of superhuman ability. Now, I get that saying because of something we found in Agent Timmons' rib cage." He then pulled out a handheld forensic scanner, and brought up an X-Ray image of the dead agent's rib cage, which showed quite a bit of damage. "Even at peak physical level, this type of damage is hard to achieve," the forensic continued. "To be able to achieve a hit of this caliber, even with the training and proper footwear and momentum buildup, one must either be at Captain America's physical human condition, or…"

"Or have some superhuman abilities to back it up," Fury said. This was not good, he realized; up until now, they had been operating under the assumption that HYDRA X was just another highly skilled assassin and terrorist. They didn't think he was of any superhuman potential.

"Exactly," the scientist continued. "His combat armor was able to withstand some of it, but if he hadn't had his neck snapped, he would've dropped dead only a few minutes after receiving such a blow. In fact, if he didn't have the armor at all, he would have dropped dead instantly."

"Anything on the gas he used to kill off the first guard set of the vault?" Fury asked.

"Nothing in our databases matched it," the forensic said as he lead the three to the vault, where more SHIELD forensic teams were working both on the first buffer vault gate area and the second buffer vault gate area. "HYDRA must be working on a new bio-pathogen. Our scientists are working on analyzing it and finding a way to counter it."

"And the actual hot zone?" Coulson asked as he made to go into the room where the artificial Tesseract had been housed, but the forensic called after him.

"Agent Coulson, I must advise against going in there…the forensic teams are still trying to get the blood off the floor and wall, and it…is a somewhat disturbing scene."

"You said the camera inside the actual vault room was still functional during the whole incident," Hill said as she looked at the partially closed vault door, somewhat shaken by the mental images her mind formed when the forensic said those words. "I think we need to see that. You said that it actually gives a clear shot of HYDRA X's facial features."

"Yes it does; it's in the security monitor room," the man said. With that, he led them to the room, where yet another SHIELD forensic team and now also a SHIELD cyber-terrorism team was going over the damage left behind. "Min," the forensic said, calling the attention of a middle-aged Asian woman who was clearly in charge of the cyber team. "The Director wants to look at the Vault camera footage."

"Very well," the woman said as she made for the security monitors were one of her team members were. "But I should warn you…it gets pretty graphic pretty quickly." Activating the monitor system, the video feed from the vault hot zone came onto the screen, showing exactly what had happened there that night.

The footage showed HYDRA X entering the vault, coming to the Tesseract stimulation/power device. After checking the machine over, the assassin pressed a finger to his ear, supposedly speaking into a comm link (to Baron Strucker, no doubt), before taking the artificial Tesseract out of its cylindrical hold, placing the Tesseract and its container in a small metallic box that he found nearby. Apparently ready to go, HYDRA X then turned back to the vault's metallic gate. He walked over and placed what looked like a grenade by the metallic door. Walking back, he took out his side arms and readied himself. Suddenly, the camera footage went into a bit of static and fuzz as the grenade detonated. For two seconds, the viewers saw nothing but HYDRA X standing there, his guns in hand. Suddenly, numerous SHIELD tactical strike squad members appeared on the screen, firing and charging at the assassin. What happened next shocked Fury, Coulson and Hill completely to their core. With uncanny speed and agility, HYDRA X dodged each and every single one of their bullets, expertly jumping and sliding and pouncing. All the while, he emptied both of his fire arms completely against them, landing precise head shot kills on each of them, ending the lives of dozens of the advancing agents as they made to try and subdue him. The more HYDRA X advanced to his enemies, the more bodies dropped dead in his wake. Soon, however, his guns went empty. That, however, was when the real carnage began.

Throwing away his guns, he took out two sinister looking combat knives, about 5 inches in length each. More SHIELD tactical units arrived, and this time, instead of charging at him, they all aimed their weapons at him, and the footage, though without sound, easily gave the distinction that they were ordering him to stand down. That was when it started getting freaky. HYDRA X suddenly began glowing a light shade of blue, and soon was engulfed in an aura of the same color. It appeared he gave a primal yell, and then he jumped at the agents with that same uncanny speed, but this time, as he was going hand-to-hand, his brutality increased 10 fold. The agents never stood a chance.

"Oh my God!" Hill gasped as she continued to watch the footage. Before their eyes, HYDRA X was going through the agents like mincemeat, slashing at their throats and snapping their necks and kicking their heads into wall which resulting skulls cracking completely open…all the while, his blue aura continued to intensify and glow even brighter. The agents tried to shoot him down and tackle him or do anything that could stop him, but they were no match. By the dozens, they were slaughtered, their blood and brains splattering onto the floor, the tech equipment and the walls…it was sick and horrifying, and what made it even more sadistic was the fact that through it all, HYDRA X had a grin on his face.

Then the Mandroid squads arrived, hoping to turn the tide with superior strength, speed and firepower. Not a chance-as the first Mandroid attacked and began firing his wrist mounted machine guns, HYDRA X simply jumped out of the way…with the SHIELD agents behind him taking the full force of the high caliber gunfire, their bodies torn apart, flesh and uniforms being torn to shreds in just a few short seconds. By the time the Mandroid pilot realized what he was doing, HYDRA X had already pounced upon him and with an apparent yell, he thrust his blue glowing fist into the armor's chest, instantly ending all its movement and he snap kicked it into another charging Mandroid, with such force that the two crashed into the nearby wall, exploding just a few seconds later. More Mandroid armors then attacked, now flanked by reinforcements of SHIELD tactical teams. They were soon all slaughtered as HYDRA X repeated the same process he did with the first tactical units, slashing and snapping and crushing. But with the Mandroids, he showed excellent strength-superior, even-in combatting them, crushing the heads with blood erupting as a result from the pilots inside. As one tried to mow him down with machine gun fire, he dodged and grabbed his armored gauntlets and spun it at the other SHIELD agents, slaughtering them as a man would a fly.

The carnage and gore continued on for another minute before the footage showed only HYDRA X left standing, his body still enveloped in the blue aura. Slowly, he walked over to the case that held the Tesseract copy, picked it up and prepared to leave.

"Oh my god…" Hill murmured. "He…he slaughtered all of them…"

"And that was more than half of the personnel stationed here, Commander Hill," the Asian woman commented. "The base commander was among the first wave of interception…he died alongside his men."

"Why did the other personnel not engage?" Coulson asked, though he figured he knew why.

"After that, Agent Coulson?" the woman replied. "I wouldn't want to go up against him either, if I had seen him do that."

Hill and Coulson continued to discuss with the woman, apparently done with their fill of the video footage, but Fury continued watching, the tech assistant with him. He wanted to see just who this sonuvabitch was…and not only that, but something seemed familiar about that blue aura, but he couldn't figure out what, and he didn't feel right about it. Clearly, going into this blue aura frenzy was what gave him his superhuman abilities; this just kept getting worse and worse. He needed to know who this was, and badly. His wish was granted, as HYDRA X stopped suddenly to pick up his empty side arms. The camera captured the angle perfectly…allowing Fury to catch his first ever full glimpse HYDRA X's full face, and he saw that his shades had fallen off in his gory rampage, which was even better for Fury, allowing him to get a full view of his freckled face…his pale blue skin, thanks to the aura…his slightly long and unkempt blue hair…and his blue eyes…then, the aura disappeared…and the blue turned to pale white…the blue hair became dirty blonde…and the eyes went from blue to brown…Fury saw the full face of HYDRA X at last.

And he was completely horrified and shocked.

"FREEZE IMAGE!"

Hill, Coulson, the Asian woman and everyone else in the room was startled by Fury's sudden outburst, but the techy by the screens obeyed his order, and froze the image. Hill and Coulson came up to Fury, unsure of what had happened…until they saw the screen.

"Hill…Coulson…" Fury said quietly. "Please tell me you see what I'm seeing."

They did…and they were shocked and rattled.

"That's…but…but that's not possible," Hill stuttered. "He died-we SAW the footage where he died! He was killed…by Reaper's hand!"

"The Reaper…" Coulson realized. "He dabbles in necromancy…it could be possible…but-but SHIELD had the body in custody…it was with us the whole time…it looked just like him! How…how-?!"

"Find out how, dammit!" Fury snapped. "Review all footage from that night until the funeral, and if nothing comes up, then check all cameras that we placed by his grave!" He looked back at the screen, at those cold & merciless brown eyes. "What matters at the moment, however, is that they did it…HYDRA did this…and they now have one of the most dangerous weapons in the world in their arsenal. And with that kind of training and skill…"

"We'll stop them, Boss," Coulson reassured. "We'll stop HYDRA, Strucker and X."

"Is it possible that…we could save him?" Hill asked.

"With being with them for possibly four years, I don't know, Hill…" Fury sighed, unable to look away from the brown eyes on the screen. "He could be a lost cause…"

"We need to get the Warriors together-all of them," Coulson said instantly.

"This man is a living weapon…" Hill said quietly. "How are we supposed to beat him when he slaughtered more than 170 agents here?"

Silence…then…

"We have a weapon of our own," Fury said suddenly, and with that, he left the room briskly. It took a few seconds for Coulson and Hill to realize what he meant, and they dashed after him.

"Sir, she has been out of commission for four years-we can't rely on her!"

"Hill's right, Boss-she's too big a wild card, not to mention that if we tell her, her reactions-!"

"She is the only one who has any experience with HYDRA X that we can rely on who isn't in 42 or a member of HYDRA," Fury replied. "We need her, or else we can just say we lost. Are you two with me?"

The two stood there as Fury looked at them, their expressions returning to their confident attire. "Yes sir."

"That's what I want to hear," Fury smiled. With that, the three of them walked on, Fury speaking into his comm. "This is Director Nick Fury, calling all Secret Warriors; sound off, now."

"Agent Romanova here."

"This is Barnes, I copy.

"Johnson here, Fury."

"Carter, reporting for duty."

"Morse here, sir."

"This is Rhodes, I copy."

"Thompson here, sir."

"Agent Drew responding."

"Barton."

"Wilson here."

"Phobos hears you, Director."

"Ross here, I hear you, Fury."

…

…

"Mad Dog, respond," Fury ordered.

No answer.

"Agent Strong!"

"Mad Dog is on deployment in Cambodia, Fury," Quartermain's voice answered. "Remember, you personally sent her there? She's off comm, per your orders."

"Dammit…I need her back, now!"

"We'll try to pinpoint her location, but it'll take a while."

"Do better. All other Warriors, we're now in an Omega Level situation; the artificial Tesseract has been stolen by HYDRA."

"Should we contact the Avengers?"

"No, Barnes-we're handling this ourselves. Coulson, you're heading to Upperton, Colorado to rendezvous with Hawkeye and Falcon. Everyone else, return to base ASAP. You'll all be briefed of the situation en route or in Barton and Wilson's case, when Coulson arrives."

"What's Coulson coming over here for?"

"Because we just learned who HYDRA X is, Barton," Fury replied. "And we need the one person who can help us stop him. We need Kim Possible."

* * *

***HYDRA ISLAND, same time***

"Are you positive?" Strucker inquired as he stared at the screen, one of his grunts on the monitor.

"Yes, My Baron," the grunt replied. "We are certain…it has come as a surprise, but we have found her."

"Then you know your orders-kill her. Hail HYRDRA."

* * *

**_XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX_**

**_And...here...we...go._**

**_Is HYDRA going to go for the Skull? Will Agent Woo (keep an eye out for him!) live? Just who is HYDRA X? Has HYDRA been hunting Kim all these years?! Will Kim work with SHIELD?! And just who is "Mad Dog?!" SO MANY QUESTIONS & NOT ENOUGH ANSWERS !_**

**_I have you all hooked now, don't I? ;D You all know what to do-review and opinionate and leave feedback and all that good stuff :) What has been your favorite thing about this story up to this point? I'm curious to know._**

**_Next chapter, the first step in bringing it all together. Until next time :D_**


	7. Hunted and Chosen

_**And we're back! In this chapter, some reminiscence and a shootout, and a few revelations, the first of many to come down the path. Enjoy :D**_

_**I think it's pretty obvious I don't own Marvel or Kim Possible. Damn you Disney...**_

* * *

Chapter 6: Hunted and Chosen

* * *

***Upperton University, 36hrs later***

She still couldn't get the entire incident out of her mind.

It had been two days since the encounter. Kim was currently sitting with Monique and Rufus at their usual hangout spot by the tree in the northwest campus plaza. Being that it was just starting to become evening, the day time rush had subsided, only to be replayed by the body of night time students readying themselves for evening and night classes, and since the weekend was only a few hours away, they wanted to be done with their classes quick as possible. The sunset was a beautiful thing to behold at this time, especially from the position that the two young women and mole rate were viewing it from.

Kim had told Monique about what had happened the moment she had returned home. Monique had been concerned when she had come home and Kim was gone, but when Kim had rushed in only 10 minutes later and she saw her best friend's face, she knew something was up. And she was very surprised by Kim's tale of near rape, only to be saved by a mysterious man armed with a bow and arrows, who said he was something of a...guardian angel. She was intrigued alright...but she didn't bode with it. Something just didn't seem right about it.

"And he just happened to be in the right place at the right time…Kim, that's just too much to be a coincidence."

"I don't know, Monique," Kim replied as she set her smartphone down and looked at her friend. "Maybe he's just some guy trying to be a superhero, or a vigilante of some kind. They're showing up all over the world, after all, especially in New York. Besides," she added as she took a sip of her Snapple, "maybe some people are just trying to, I don't know, follow the example I left when I quit. I used to be Middleton's...superhero, I guess." The familiar pang of pain and guilt started bubbling up, but she forced it back down.

"Well, yeah," Monique stated, seeing Kim's momentary pain flash but she ignored it. "But it's been four years-why wait until now?"

"Well, it takes a while to be trained in a bunch of fighting styles, girl," Kim smirked. "It doesn't just come like that, you know. It would help if it did, though."

"Look, Kim, all I'm saying is that you should be a bit more careful-and not just because you almost got raped, but I think that someone may be keeping tabs on you."

"I'd know if someone were tailing me, Monique."

"Well, you almost got raped and someone had to step in and save your ass. I beg to differ." Kim recognized that Monique had a point there. Seeing her face, Monique continued, "Hey, I'm just worried about you girl."

"Yeah, I know," Kim smiled. "Thanks."

"What are friends for, right?"

"Though I still say I don't think anyone is keeping tabs on me; I've been out of the game for years now, and I haven't heard anything about Drakken or Killigan of Monkey Fist or DNAmy...nothing. And I don't think after four years, I'm of any concern to others out there."

"I hope so, Kim."

"Hey, hey!" Rufus exclaimed capturing the attention of the young women. "Hungry here!"

"Ok, fine, little guy," Kim chuckled as she scratched his back. "Let's get something to eat."

Seven minutes later, the three of them were back in their spot, each with food: Monique with a Philly Cheese Steak, Rufus with a nacho plate, and Kim with her typical salad. Old habits die hard.

As the three of them began eating, they heard a bird-like screech, and they were pleasantly surprised when Scarlet the falcon touched down on their table. Kim couldn't help but smile; she really did love this falcon. It walked closer to her and cooed softly, such behavior being so contradictory to such a dangerous bird of prey, but with her, it seemed to do this quite often. Yes, it always acted tame around them, and around her especially.

"Hey there, Scarlet," Kim said softly as she petted the bird. Rufus, being friendly to the falcon, took a few of his nachos and placed them in front of Scarlet, who began to peck at the food with a frenzy. Kim smiled at the sight. She then glanced off to the other side of the campus plaza, and her eyes wandered...until they came to rest on the body of her newest ex-boyfriend, Brian, who was currently sitting at a table with his team and some cheerleaders. It was by pure chance that he also broke his eyes away from his teammates and glanced at her direction, and his face flickered slightly as they made eye contact, as did Kim's. For about 10 seconds, they kept their eyes on each other, until Brian finally turned his attention back to his teammates, albeit his face looked a bit down after seeing Kim again. They hadn't spoken to each other since the break-up. Kim had a feeling that they weren't going to be working to make a friendship stable.

Monique saw this, and sighed. "Kim…" she said, bringing the young woman's attention back to her.

"Yeah, I know," Kim sighed, her face falling. "I screwed up...again."

"And yet you do nothing about it."

"Yeah...I know," Kim sighed again. She wasn't even going to bother denying it anymore. "I miss him, Monique...I miss Ron."

"I know you do, Kim," Monique said as she took the young woman's hand. "I miss him too, a lot of people miss him. Not as much or as bad as you, yeah...but he is missed, Kim, you know that."

"I know," Kim said as she continued to pet the falcon. "But they don't miss him like I do...not even his parents, to an extent, I guess. I...I was with Ron every day since we met. We bonded in a way I never thought possible; all those times we were on missions, and all those times in between...we grew together, helping each other overcome our fears and insecurities. It was always him I could turn to when I needed it the most, and I was always the one he'd turn to. We understood each other, complemented each other, in ways I never understood until we started dating. He made me happy and he made me feel good about myself, and I never fully grasped it...any of it. Even before Ron was my boyfriend, he was always special. He always held a special place in my heart. And when he helped pull me out of that rut when Drakken tricked me with that android boyfriend at junior prom, I...I realized that I cared for him so much more than I thought I did. All those instances of jealousy before that moment, they all made sense. Ron made me happy, and I loved him for it. I didn't care that he wasn't the strongest or the bravest or the coolest...to me, he was the sweetest, kindest and most loving guy I've ever met. He did so much more he...and I never thanked him for it."

"Kim, I am positive Ron knew that you were-are-grateful for all he ever did for you," Monique assured her as she held her hand firmly. Monique had never heard Kim speak about Ron like this before. It surprised her that Kim felt like this…that she had never fully given her gratitude to Ron for being the wonderful person he was to her. Monique knew that even despite his tendencies, Ron was truly a great person and a wonderful guy.

"I hope he did," Kim sighed. The two friends continued to stare off, Rufus continuing to munch on his nachos as Scarlet the falcon simply remained where it was, and pecking at the crumbs of the nachos it had been given.

"You know that Ron wouldn't want you to be like this, right?" Monique asked. She had asked this before on a few occasions, but she felt she should ask it again.

Kim took a deep breath before answering. "I do, girl. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Ron would never want me to be like this," she sighed. In her mind, a memory of a dying teenage boy making her promise to live her life to the fullest no matter what began to play, but she forced it out of her mind; she didn't want to relive that memory...for it would lead to another memory, one she could not bear to deal with right now. "He was sure-no, he knew-that I has such potential. He was happy just going to Middleton University for culinary, but he believed I could do better than what I wanted already." She suddenly giggled a bit. "He would always say that my good looks were rivaled only by my intelligence. Ron was worried that he might be holding me down from stretching my wings and making my mark in the world."

"That sounds like him," Monique mused.

"Yeah," Kim smirked. "He knew that I could do so much more...he believed in me, he believed in my goals and dreams…" Her slight smirk suddenly turned into a frown. "Then that call came...the one with Drakken and-and…" Kim forced her eyes shut, and bit her lips softly. Taking a few breaths, she regained her composure, but she was hurting. "God, I miss him, Monique," she muttered. "I miss Ron so damn much. And no matter how much I try to change...to bring down this wall I built around myself...I feel like I've failed him again. I failed him once already." Kim's eyes looked to the sky, taking in the gorgeous blue. "I hate this...I don't want to fail him again."

By this time, Rufus had begun to pay attention. He quickly jumped onto Kim's arm and climbed onto her shoulder, where he could be close to her cheek. With a soft, "I miss him, too," he gave her a warm embrace-as best a mole rat could give, at least. Thankful, Kim gave him a hug back.

"At least you have Rufus to remember him by," Monique said as she came closer to Kim and held her tight. She knew Kim wanted to change, but it was just so hard for her. "And you still have me. I'm here, girl, always, whenever you need me."

"Me too," Rufus said with glee.

"Thanks, guys," Kim whispered, her small smile now returning. "I don't know what I'd do without you." She certainly would be lost without Monique and Rufus. They both had helped her through so much after Ron's death, and she had been able to cling to them as they were her anchors. She was glad to have them both. As they broke their embrace, and Rufus began to try and play with Scarlet the falcon, Kim couldn't help but gaze around the plaza.

And she noticed a few things that were wrong.

With her self-training instilled into her, Kim just couldn't help but keep her own personal & mental tabs on what went on around the campus, including the maintenance and cleaning staff. She knew that three guys from the cleaning staff would attend to their duties anywhere from between 30 minutes ago to 10 minutes ago. So there shouldn't be any cleaning staff in the plaza attending to their duties.

And yet, there were at least 10 guys wearing maintenance uniforms in the plaza...and they seemed to be taking glances at a certain direction.

HER direction.

And there seemed to be...bulges near their belt lines.

Kim's eyes widened in horror; she recognized guns when she saw them. And she didn't want to know just what was in their cleaning/maintenance carts.

"Monique," she said as she scooped up a surprised Rufus. "We need to leave, now."

"What?" Monique asked with confusion. "What are you-?"

"Trust me, I'll tell you later, but we need to go now!" Kim seemed frightened, or at least startled. What was going on?

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the nearby English Department building, Agent Barton was maintaining his surveillance on Kim, or Subject: Chaos, as Fury had code named her. Scanning with his binoculars, he caught Kim's worried expressions and her glances towards other areas of the plaza. This troubled him, and he didn't like it when he was troubled on a mission. "Coulson, I'm seeing Subject: Chaos looking a bit unnerved and on edge here."

"How do you mean?" Coulson asked via comm link.

"She's taking wary glances towards various other points of the campus plaza she's in. I think she sees something I'm missing."

"I'm in the air right now," Falcon's voice said in the comms. "I'm not seeing anything up here, and I'm right now tapping into the eyes of all nearby birds. Everything looks normal...let's see what our ace in the hole sees...huh...Barton, from what I see through Redwing, she's looking at the cleaning staff. What do you get off them?"

"Kim, you're kind of scaring me…" Monique continued, unsure of what to make of this.

"Please, Monique, we need to leave," Kim insisted as she took another glance at the cleaning staff. To her fear, they had caught on and were slowly making their way towards her direction. "Monique, do you trust me?"

Monique hesitated for only a second before replying, "With my life."

"Then please...let's go."

Monique looked at her friend, and she saw Kim looking towards the plaza. Following her gaze, she saw the group of cleaning guys...that seemed to be heading towards them. "Kim...what's going...who are-?!"

"I don't know, but we need to get out of here-!" Kim started to say as she and Monique started to leave, but she was interrupted by a very loud male voice.

"HAIL HYDRA!"

All hell broke loose.

At the sight of the two teenage girls trying to leave, three of the "cleaning guys" pulled out machine pistols and started firing in their direction. Another one of them took out a Uzi submachine gun from his cart, and also began firing in their direction. Five others took out what looked like simple handguns, while the last one simply took a small device out of his pocket.

Once the shooting began, chaos broke out. All across the plaza, students and any professors instantly broke into a panic frenzy as they tried to get away. They didn't really register that none of the shooting was directed at them-all they cared about was getting the hell out of there. Screams started echoing as a mad dash began out of the plaza. Of course, being the stupid idiots human beings tend to be around a gunfight in progress, once they were out of harm's way and behind cover, they turned back to see and watch just what was going on. Unfortunately, Kim, Monique and Rufus were forced to duck down and seek cover behind their table to escape the onslaught of bullets. The table just barely managed to provide sufficient cover and protection. Scarlet the falcon let out a screech of fury as it flew up to dodge.

"HOLY SHIT!" Barton yelled out as he grabbed his bow. "Hawkeye to all points-HYDRA agents are attacking Kim Possible! I repeat, HYDRA has arrived on the scene and Kim Possible is in danger! Coulson, move up time table! Get your guys here!"

"Dammit!" Coulson's voice yelled. "All agents, descend on point of target! Falcon and Hawkeye, engage now! Protect Possible at all costs!"

"Heading in now!" Falcon yelled in the comms.

"KIM POSSIBLE!" one of the HYDRA agents yelled as he and his fellow killers continued to shoot. "By orders of Baron Strucker, you are to be killed and be done away with! HAIL HYDRA!"

"HYDRA…?!" Kim gasped in horror as she crouched beside Monique. She looked to see Rufus, whose eyes also bulged in fear and worry.

"Oh my god...Kim, HYDRA…aren't they the guys…?" Monique asked, the fear evident in her eyes and voice, terrified for her life.

"Yeah," Kim responded. "They're the ones who killed Ron." They suddenly ducked their heads as the bark from the tree behind them suddenly exploded off. Kim and Monique chanced a look, and saw to their horror that what looked to be handguns were actually high caliber energy weapons. Two of them were smoking from just being fired, and the other three were preparing to shoot now, and Kim didn't think they'd be so lucky in dodging this time…

"Kim, you gotta do something!" Monique yelled as the other HYDRA agents began shooting their regular machine pistols and machine guns.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Kim asked incredulously.

"You used to beat these kinds of goons for a living!"

"Not THESE kinds!"

**KRAPOW!**

Half their table was ripped off from an energy blast, the impact of the blast forcing Kim and Monique to jump out of hiding and right into the exposed air, directly in the line of fire of the HYDRA agents. The killers saw this and sneered as one of them aimed his machine pistol. Monique grabbed Kim's hand and squeezed in horror. Kim stared in horror-was this really the end?!

"For the glory of HYDRA, you die now!" the killer yelled. Applying pressure to the trigger, he cried, "For Baron Strucker! HAIL HYDRA-!"

**THOUMPK!**

Two arrows embedded themselves in the HYDRA agent's neck-directly into his jugular-and into his head. The hits were well placed so that there would be no reflex of pulling the trigger. To the shock of the two young women, the wonder and awe of the other students and the horror of the HYDRA agents, the man fell dead to the ground. But it didn't stop there-a whole volley of arrows began raining down upon the HYDRA agents, each making the kill mark on its target. Some of the HYDRA agents tried firing in the direction the arrows were coming from, but it was to no avail-especially since one arrow went right into one of the gun barrels and suddenly exploded. Kim & Monique then turned to that direction. There, on the top of one of the campus security cars (which was ironically void of any campus security), stood the archer that had saved Kim just two days ago, bow in hand and an array of lethal arrows to use.

"I'm assuming that's the guy?" Monique asked.

"Yep," Kim replied.

"He's kind of hot."

"Really? We're being shot at and that's what you notice?"

One more arrow went and killed one of the last two HYDRA agents-which gave the last standing one to rip off his shirt and reveal a bomb strapped onto him. "I'VE GOT A BOMB!" he yelled out as loud as he could, his hand going up to reveal that the device in his hand was really a detonator. Students began yelling in fear as they realized they needed to get out of here, now. The archer didn't falter, however; he appeared to mutter something into an earpiece and then aimed one more arrow at the potential suicide bomber.

"OH MY GOD!" Monique screamed as Rufus ran right into Kim's pocket. Kim could only stare back and forth between the bomber and the archer.

"HAWKEYE!" the HYDRA bomber yelled. "You're gonna walk away right now, or else everyone on this side of the campus blows up!"

"Not going to happen, douchebag!" the archer yelled back, whom Kim assumed was Hawkeye. Why did that name seem somewhat vaguely familiar to her? He was too far away to recognize easily...and she still didn't know what that insignia on his combat uniform was…

"Wanna bet?!" the bomber retorted. "This thing has 20 pounds of C4 strapped on it, along with about 5 pounds of chemical plant fertilizer, and I've got a bag of shrapnel! And this in my hand-spring loaded Dead Man's switch! Once my thumb lets go, everyone here dies!"

"I'm only going to tell you one last time!" Hawkeye yelled as he jumped off the car and began to slowly make his way over. "STEP AWAY FROM KIM POSSIBLE AND STAND DOWN, NOW!"

Kim heard a screech, and saw Scarlet the Falcon touch down on the part of the table that wasn't ripped apart.

"YOU'RE IN NO POSITION TO MAKE ME, ASSHOLE!" the HYDRA agent sneered with a yell. "Can't kill me or the pressure goes off and everything goes boom! But don't worry, it's all going boom anyways!" He turned to Kim and Monique. "Baron Strucker has wanted you dead for a while, bitch. Now, he'll finally get his wish! For the glory of HYDRA, Kim Possible, now you-!"

Scarlet screeched.

A man suddenly fell onto the half destroyed table in a landing pose, catching the girls and the bomber off guard. He was African American and wore a high tech flight suit. Kim knew it was a high tech flight suit due to the dark grey mechanized wings that were extended down his arms and the dark grey jet pack propeller on his back from which they extended and were connected. He work combat tech black shades with dark red lenses, a black & dark grey combat suit & fatigues, black combat boots and black fingerless gloves. On his legs were holsters for high caliber machine pistols, and he had several compartments on his combat belt and arm pouches. He took one look at the HYDRA agent, and without hesitation, he swiped his left wing at his direction. From the wing ejected a razor sharp dark colored projectile, heading straight for the bomber.

It sliced his hand, detonator and all, right off.

"AHHHHHH!" the HYDRA agent yelled in agony and pain as he fell to his knees and grasped at the stump that was where his hand had been. Hawkeye, meanwhile, wasted no time and fired his arrow, but not at the bomber. The hand with the detonator in it flew alongside the other man's wing projectile all the way into a nearby building wall. Without any pressure, the thumb would've let go and blown the agent to pieces-but the arrow embedded itself right into the thumb and even into the detonator itself, as it pinned them both to the wall.

"This is Falcon-the HYDRA bomber is down!" the man yelled into his comm. "I repeat, HYDRA is down!"

"All agents, move in!" Hawkeye said. That was when Kim saw the insignia on his uniform, and also on the other man's uniform.

An eagle encircled in a sphere.

Suddenly, to the surprise of all the students (who were still here, surprisingly), black SUVs and Lincolns drove into the campus at high speed, and barely stopping, they ejected men & women in black suits, each with weapons drawn; along with men & women in tactical combat response gear. They each, to Kim's shock, had the same insignia on their shoulders. A number of them started to secure the area while others raced for the HYDRA agent, pointing their guns at him to ensure he didn't have another scheme. Combat medics and a bomb squad came up to tend to his injury and remove the bomb from his person. Then a black military helicopter showed up in the skies, hovering in the air as if it were keeping watch.

Kim and Monique saw this in awes. Rufus poked his head out, saw it and simply muttered, "Uh oh."

"Oh my god…" Monique gasped. "What the hell…?"

Kim turned to Scarlet. It turned right back to her, and gazed into her eyes. Suddenly, the man called Falcon cried out, "Redwing, come!" The falcon screeched and took off, and to Kim's shock, landed on the man's shoulder. "Go check out if there are any more HYDRA goons around, and see if there are any getaway cars. Look for anything speeding!" With a screech, the falcon, who apparently was called Redwing, took off into the sky, heading towards the city. With a jolt, Kim realized something.

'They've been watching me...keeping tabs on me...'

"Kim…" Monique started but Kim grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

"We need to go, now."

"Wait, what?! Kim, those guys just tried to kill us, and these guys saved us! We can't just-!"

"Yeah we can," Kim countered as she tried to pull Monique away. Falcon saw this and reached for his comm.

"Coulson, she's trying to sneak away. You may want to come out now."

"Before we lose her again or someone else tries to kill her," Hawkeye added as he went to keep the other students back and in control.

"Look Monique," Kim sighed. "I will explain everything later, but I can't let these guys-"

"Kimberly Ann Possible!"

"...find me." With a sigh, Kim turned to the direction of the voice. Approaching her was a man in his mid to late thirties, wearing a crisp black suit and pants. His sidearm holster was just barely visible. He wore black shades, a Bluetooth comm piece in his ear, and his hairline was receding. However, he walked with authority and command, and Kim guessed that he was the guy in charge here. Flanking him were two other men in tactical and combat gear. The trio stopped in front of her and Monique, and with a sigh, Kim spoke again. "Yes, that's me."

"I know," the man in the suit responded as he took out from his pocket a badge and some credentials. "Ms. Possible, I'm Special Agent Phil Coulson. I need you to come with me."

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Monique interrupted. "You guys save her ass just to whisk her away?!"

"We didn't know we'd have to save her, Ms. Donaldson. And yes, I know your name," Coulson replied as he saw Monique's surprise. Turning back to Kim, he continued, "I'm pretty sure you know who I work for and what I represent, Ms. Possible. With the line of work you were in, it'd be surprising if you didn't."

"Yeah…" Kim said with defeat. "I know who you work for."

"Ok, then, glad that's established. Now, as I said, you'll need to come with us-"

"And what if she doesn't want to?" Monique challenged. "I don't think you'd know, but Kim hasn't exactly been-"

"She's been battling a heavy state of depression since three weeks after her high school graduation and her life is slowly deteriorating," Coulson replied, shocking Monique but not really surprising Kim.

"What the hell-you've been spying on her!? I told you that archer was no good!" Monique said to Kim. Turning to Coulson she snapped, "I should get you sued for that! The government can't just-!"

"I don't work for the US government, nor do any of us," Coulson said, starting to get annoyed. "We are an international force, and we answer to no government, but to the United Nations."

"Monique…" Kim said, getting her attention. "They work for the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate."

"What?"

"They work for SHIELD."

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_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**What did you guys think? You all know what to do-review, feedback, etc :D**_

_**Now, a bit of an explanation for the Falcon in this story: I'll be giving him the "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" appearance but he'll also keep Redwing around. Falcon isn't Falcon without his falcon, after all. As for the projectile he shot to sever the bomber's hand, I got that idea from "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes," where Falcon can shoot projectiles from his wings. Not sure if he did it in the comics but he did it in the show, so I took it from there.**_

_**Anyways, thank you guys for supporting this story thus far. It really does keep me motivated to continue writing it :D**_

_**Next chapter coming soon! Until next time, readers :)**_


	8. Why Me?

_**Welcome back, guys! This chapter, we shall she just how Coulson tried to recruit Kim and the unlikely person who gets her to agree to doing the job. Enjoy!**_

_**Disney owns everything**_

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Chapter 7: Why Me?

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***Kim and Monique's dorm building, Upperton University campus***

"This is completely unacceptable!" the Upperton University president yelled, her voice actually squeaking slightly from the strain. "I don't give a damn that you people have international authority-you are disrupting the habits and lifestyle of the students here, and the students in this dorm! This is a hindrance on the educational environment and your presence is painting a target sign on the-!"

"Ma'am, with all due respect," Hawkeye interrupted, just about fed up with this woman. "Shut the damn fuck up. We are here whether you like it or not, so just stop yelling before Falcon here knocks the shit out of you."

At the moment, Hawkeye and Falcon were dealing with the college's president. After Coulson and Kim Possible's meeting each other, Coulson had told Kim that there were a few things he needed to discuss, and that she needed to come with him. Kim was, of course, unnerved by what had just occurred, and it was understandable that she was unsure of what to make of Coulson. But, being they were SHIELD, and she knew that she could somewhat trust them, she agreed to speak with him. On the condition that Monique be present with them, and that they do it in their dorm room. Coulson had agreed.

That was why SHIELD troopers and agents were brushing and combing the entirety of the campus, searching for any more possible HYDRA agents, while SHIELD basically took over Kim and Monique's dorm building. Agent had banged on all the doors and ordered any and all students to leave the building until further notice, resulting in many angry young women having to come out in simple home attire. They were quick to keep their mouths shut once they saw the no nonsense and armed agents outside. Other agents set themselves up in a perimeter around the dorm building, and more agents set themselves up in the hallway of Kim and Monique's dorm and the stairs leading up to the floor, the elevators and the dorm building lobby, where Hawkeye and Falcon were standing point. Of course, the president of the college heard about the incident and of SHIELD's arrival and their quite literal takeover of the entire campus, and needless to say, she was quite pissed off about the whole situation. Of course, Coulson had told Barton and Wilson do deal with her.

Yay.

"I am trying to run a school here-!" she yelled.

"And you are doing SUCH a wonderful job, letting terrorists work on your staff and amongst the students under your care," Falcon deadpanned, to which Redwing, perched on his shoulder, squawked at.

"Look, lady," Hawkeye said. "We're here, and there's nothing you can do about it. We came for Kim Possible. We aren't bothering anyone else on campus. Once we're done here, you can go back to ineffectively running your school, but until then, stay out of our noses and leave us to our business."

Meanwhile, in Kim and Monique's dorm, Coulson pondered exactly to word his thoughts. Fury had told him that Kim Possible was still battling her depression, and since the "Incident" has always questioned herself, her abilities, her actions...basically, everything. This made the situation rather delicate. And that was just now...when the other truths started coming out...especially the big one… Regardless, Phil Coulson knew he had to tread carefully. He didn't want to set her off on another episode of self-pity and doubt. But he also knew that the young woman before him...this one fiery, selfless and heroic redhead who had been reduced to a reclusive, depressed and traumatized little girl...she was their only hope in facing what was to come and possibly walk away victorious.

Coulson looked down at Rufus, who was on the floor, standing near Kim and Monique's bedroom door. Rufus looked back. For the merest second, they looked at each other. Rufus nodded. Coulson did too.

"Ok, Agent Coulson," Kim said, bringing his attention back to her. She and Monique had just returned from their bedroom, having changed their clothes after the recent attack. They sat down on the sofa chairs, and she motioned for Coulson to do the same, to which he did. "I think before we begin, I just want to ask-"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT OUT THERE!?" Monique interrupted.

"Well, yeah, that."

"That was HYDRA," Coulson replied. "I think you know enough about them, Ms. Possible, but for Ms. Donaldson, HYDRA is an international terrorist organization, active since World War II-"

"No, I know that," Monique interrupted. "I learned that in high school. I'm talking about why were they out there, shooting at us?! And why the hell were they trying to kill Kim?!"

"That...that I don't know the answer, I have to admit," Coulson sighed. "My guess right now is that they were rather pissed off that Kim survived her encounter with them four years ago, and wanted to finish the job. Why they waited until now, I don't know. Fury is going to want to hear about this, definitely."

"Fury?" Kim asked. "Like, as in THE Nick Fury?"

"The boss himself."

"Why...why does he need to know? And why are you even here, at all? I have so many questions...ugh, this is so NOT the drama…" Kim groaned as she ran her hands through her hair.

"What is it that you want to know most?" Coulson asked.

Kim hesitated only two seconds before answering. "I want to know why you came here...why you came for me…why you say you need me."

"Because we do need you...the real you," Coulson said. At that, Kim's eyes widened and Monique suddenly found herself more interested in the agent before her. "Ms. Possible, SHIELD has been working on a project for the last 5 years that HYDRA managed to steal just a week ago, and we didn't learn of it until three days ago. HYDRA's threat level just increased about 20 bars because of this, and we are finding ourselves in a very delicate situation. We just caught wind of a threat that we have been tracking for a number of years now, and we learned that the threat is possibly more than we can handle. We've gathered our best operatives, but Fury believes this isn't enough. And for that reason, he decided to find and recruit the one person on this planet that can help us stand a chance against this threat. That person...is you."

"...Me?" Kim asked quietly.

"Yes. This threat...it's actually something you've had experience in dealing with."

"...what is it?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you until we're back on base." Coulson looked at Kim with determined eyes. "The world needs you again, Ms. Possible."

"Oh...my...God!" Monique gasped. She stood up in shock, surprise and...hope. "Kim, this is it! This is exactly what you need! Another chance, another shot at the game! This can get you back on your feet, girl!"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" Rufus squeaked in joy as he jumped up and down, racing over to Kim.

"I have to agree with your friend, Ms. Possible," Coulson also said. "This could be what you need to get yourself out of your current state of mind. This could be what gets you out of your depression."

"Exactly!" Monique continued. "Girl, you don't have to keep up like this. This can fix you! You do this, you can regain your confidence, your spunk, your faith in yourself! You can-!"

"No."

She said it quietly, but defiantly. She meant it.

Coulson, Monique and Rufus looked at Kim. Her face was lowered, but the word had come from her. "W-what?" Monique asked.

"I said...no," Kim repeated. She lifted her face, showing that there was a near undetectable tremble in her lips, but what was visible was how her eyes were slowly starting to glisten with tears. "No. I can't...I won't. I'm sorry that wasted your time to come here, Agent Coulson," she said as she got up from her seat, "but I'm sorry, I'm not interested in your offer."

"It's not an offer," Coulson said simply. "It's a call-the world is in danger and we need you."

"Well, I'm sorry, but you'll have to find someone else to help you."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Coulson replied as he also got up. "Fury specifically asked for you, and only you."

"Then go and tell him that I specifically said I am not interested," Kim replied, her temper starting to flare up.

"This isn't a matter of interest, Ms. Possible-this is a matter of lives at stake, and you are the only person we can count on to help us-"

"There are at least 200 superheroes in the world! Go ask them for help if you want, but don't think you can count on me!"

"Ms. Possible," Coulson said, keeping his cool. He knew something like this would happen. Kim felt like she couldn't do it-after what she had lost when she first ventured into the big leagues of the criminal world, he honestly couldn't blame her. But she was not seeing the picture here. She was blinding and hurting herself with her own self-doubts, her own insecurities and fears of failure. "I know that you may feel...uncertain of what may happen if you do accept this because of your traumatization, but-!"

"You don't know anything about that night!" Kim yelled, finally fed up as her tears started to break free against her will. "You don't know anything about what happened, about what I went through! So don't come and try to sympathize with me because it won't work! I can't be that person anymore after that night! I am not that person at all! You don't understand how it hurt and what I went through, and you have no right-!"

"OK, THAT IS IT, KIM POSSIBLE!" Monique yelled angrily as she harshly shoved Kim back into her seat, shocking Coulson, Rufus and especially Kim in doing so. "You're going to hear me out, so shut the hell up and listen to me, dammit! I am so damn sick and tired of seeing you reduced to this, blaming yourself for something that was out of your hands and out of your control from the moment you and Ron jumped into that fight! His death is NOT your fault! Ron chose to jump between you and that Reaper guy, and he would do it again if he had the chance to change his decision! You have been moping around here for the last four years, pushing away everyone who tried to help you, everyone who was close to you-all because you didn't want to risk being hurt when they were one day taken from you! Well, I'm going to tell you something that has been on my mind for the longest time about that-you know what's called?! It's called being selfish, Kim! You're being selfish!"

Kim was utterly shocked at the words Monique was saying. Her tears continued to run as she tried to defend herself. "I'm not-!"

"Yes you are, Kim! Everyone is going to lose the ones close to them one day, and you are no exception! But do you see everyone else moping around?! No! Because they accept it and move on! This is how life is supposed to fucking work, Kim! No matter what happens, the people you love will one day be taken from you, and you have to learn to accept it and move on! You pushing others away as they try to get close to you hurts not only others, but yourself as well! Is this what Ron would want from you?! You think he'd want you to be like this today, after he sacrificed his LIFE for you to keep on living, for you to live life to the fullest and to be the best you can be?! No he damn well would not! You are spitting on his sacrifice, Kim, you know that!? You pitying yourself, you hating yourself, you doubting yourself, you pushing others away, you hurting yourself, you not letting go and you blaming yourself is you SPITTING on his sacrifice for you and acting like it wasn't worth anything at all!"

Kim simply sat there, looking shocked and hurt at Monique from her words, the tears streaming down her face. She was given a hurtful slap on the face with those words.

"You think you've failed that night when Ron died in your arms," Monique continued. "You did not! His death was not your fault, nor was his choice to be in the life you were in, either! All of those decisions were just that-HIS decisions! He chose to be with you, he chose to join you in your hero life so that you wouldn't face the problems alone, he chose to go with you that night, and he chose to give his life for yours! His parents have no right to blame you for his death, and if they think they can, well then that's their problem! You deserve none of their hate or despite, Kim! You didn't fail him that night! You failed to grasp the second chance he gave you! You failed to honor his sacrifice for you!"

Coulson found himself very shocked, surprised and impressed by Monique's words. He would never have guessed that she was holding in all those thoughts about Kim's situation. He found he suddenly had a new respect for Monique.

Kim slowly brought her legs close to her body and bowed her head into her knees. Monique began to think that everything she had said had still not made an impact on Kim, and was about actually slap some sense into her best friend, but Kim said softly and fearfully, "I don't want to be a failure." Sh raised her head to look at Monique. "All these years, I thought I failed him. His parents...their blame made me think I failed him...and them. I still believe it...probably because I've forced it to be ingrained into my mind. But...they were Ron's decisions. I never forced him to do anything. He did it because he cared. Monique...I...I don't want to be a failure."

Monique gave a soft smile and sat down next to Kim, giving her the warmest embrace she could. "Then you need to prove to the world, to his parents...and to yourself, that you aren't a failure. You need to break down that self-doubt, that pity and pain. You need to redeem yourself in your own eyes. And...there is only one way you can, girl. You need to go back out there."

Kim sighed and wiped her eyes as the two young women broke their embrace. Rufus then jumped onto her shoulder and hugged her, and squeaked, "You can do it!" Kim smiled at him before returning the hug. She then looked at Coulson, and stood up to walk over to him.

"I really am the only one you guys think can help you?"

"The only one, Ms. Possible," Coulson answered softly, a smile of assurance on his face.

"I'm scared to screw up," Kim said softly. "I'm scared of what'll be out there...of what will try to stand in my way. I'm afraid I'll end up alone again."

"Ms. Possible, I know we can never replace the ones you love," Coulson said, "but I guarantee you...you will not be alone in this. Yes, SHIELD isn't really exactly peaches and lollipops, yes we see everything in black, white and gray...yes we do questionable things...but we stick by our own. We do not give up on or abandon one of our own. I promise you, Ms. Possible, as long as you're with us, we won't ever leave you behind or alone. On this, Fury will not budge."

Kim looked at him for a few more seconds, her face unreadable. Then, ever so slowly, her lips curled into a small smile. "You can just call me Kim, Agent Coulson."

"So you're in?" Coulson asked, though he knew what she'd say.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm in," Kim confirmed.

"Awesome!" Rufus squeaked in delight as he raced up Kim's leg and pants to stop at her shoulder.

"Yes!" Monique said with similar joy as she hugged Kim. "Look out, world, cuz Kim Possible is coming back!" And to be honest with herself, Kim agreed with that statement. Deep inside her, something stirred when she decided she would indeed join SHIELD to help them. It was...a fire that she thought had burned out years ago. It began to feed her being. She was starting to feel like herself again.

"I'm glad to hear that, Kim," Coulson said with a smile. "Now, I know this seems overwhelming, but we need to leave as soon as-"

"Coulson?"

He paused at Kim's voice. "Yes?"

"If I do this...there's something I want to do before we leave," Kim said. She took a breath and continued, "Before we go, I want to see my family one more time."

* * *

_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**And with that, I humbly ask your judgment….**_

_**Seriously, review, guys! I love hearing from you :D**_

_**Next…back to where it all began…**_

_**Until next time, dear readers.**_


	9. Home Again

_**Well, I think it's time I bring in the rest of the Possible family into the story, even if it's not for a long time. Hope I did the characters justice here :D Anyways, off to where it all began we go! Enjoy :D**_

_**Yes, I know they're not mine. Must we seriously rub it in my face? *grumbles and walks away***_

* * *

Chapter 8: Home Again

* * *

***En Route to the Possible Residence, Middleton; the next morning***

Kim stared out the window of the SHIELD SUV, still unable to grasp what had just happened in the course of only a few hours. Only yesterday, she was still a guilt-ridden and train wreck of a young woman, secluding herself from pretty much everything and everyone that seemed to promise her happiness. Now…now, she was…what was she, exactly? She wasn't exactly a hero sensation anymore. Kim wasn't keen on sticking around with SHIELD was this was all over-or, was she? Monique had really believed that this mission that SHIELD was coming forward with was just what Kim needed to get out of this funk she was in and get back into the world, take charge of her life once more. Kim once again remembered her parting words…

_*Flashback*_

_Students and staff alike watched from afar in awe and wonder as the SHIELD agents placed Kim's belongings into the SUV. Hawkeye was standing on top of said SUV, an arrow at the ready just in case. Falcon was standing by the nearby dorm entrance, with Redwing flying overhead. The sweep had not shown any more evidence of any other HYDRA agents hiding on Upperton campus, but they had located a small bunker within the Science & Health Department basement's boiler room filled with HYDRA tech. Everything had been stripped as soon as it had been found. Agents stood at various points, keeping watch should anything go bad._

_Coulson then came out of the dorm building, Kim and Monique in tow, Rufus in Kim's pocket. Kim chanced a glance at the mass of her fellow students and the professors. It was no secret to them who she was and what she had done in a past life. To see her with SHIELD was truly a sight to behold. They were all watching, many were whispering and many others were taking pictures of the whole thing._

"_Um, they're taking pictures," Monique said._

_Coulson smirked. "That isn't going to be a problem. Once we leave, the agents will see to it those pictures never see the light of day again."_

"_Okay…" Monique replied, put off a bit._

"_Everything is all set, Agent Coulson," one of the agents said as the three approached. "Ms. Possible's belongings are all accounted for."_

"_Very well," Coulson responded. "Anything else?"_

"_Yeah, how about we leave?" Barton replied, twirling his arrow in his fingers. "Sooner we get this over with, the sooner we get back to base."_

"_Morse will still be waiting for you no matter how long we take, Clint," Coulson replied with a subtle smirk. "She's been on base since the call went out."_

"…_Good."_

"_Morse?" Kim asked._

"_Another one of our operatives; very close to Agent Barton," Coulson replied. "Anyways, he's right-if there's nothing else, Kim, I guess we should head off to Middleton and see your family."_

"_Ok," she replied. "Just…just let me say goodbye to Monique." Coulson nodded, and got into the SUV to wait for her. With a sigh, Kim turned to her best friend of eight years. They had been though a lot together since high school, and they had bonded more than ever as Monique became Kim's rock during all her grieving and sorrow. Kim had no idea where she'd be right now if not for Monique. "Monique…" she began. "I…I just-"_

"_Girl, shut up and just give me a hug," Monique smiled as she grabbed her into a strong embrace, Kim returning it in full. They remained in them embrace for a good minute before coming apart. "Kim, I know that I'm probably not going to see you again, at least not for a while. When you're out there, though, I want you to remember that I'm rooting for you. You're Kim Possible-the girl who can do anything. And I know you can be who they need you to be now more than ever. I believe in you, Kim, so don't let me down. It's all on you, girlfriend. I'm glad that I've helped you see that you can get out of this. Go get 'em, girlfriend. Remember-you can do anything."_

_*End Flashback*_

"Kim?" She was knocked out of her thoughts, and her focus returned to Agent Phil Coulson, sitting beside her in the SUV. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah…just thinking about what Monique said to me before we left," she replied. "She said I need to remember that…I can do anything."

"Wasn't that the catchphrase to your website?"

"Yeah…we had this techie named Wade, and he came up with the phrase," she smiled, remembering the 10 year old genius who had helped them out so much. "I wonder how he's doing these days…I never spoke to him again after…after Ron died. I pushed him away because I didn't want to deal with or have anything to do with that life ever again." She then chuckled a bit. "Then the life shows up at my doorstep and I'm snagged into the largest and most secretive organization on the planet. Haven't had a week like this since the first time Ron and I met Global Justice. Hey," she asked with realization, "does SHIELD work with GJ?"

Before Coulson could respond, the driver turned to the two and said, "We've just entered into Middleton-we should be arriving at the Possible residence in 15 minutes."

"Very good," Coulson replied. He then reached for his comm link. "Barton and Wilson, ETA is 15 minutes."

"Copy that," Clint replied, his hands tightly gripping his flying bike as he flew in the air alongside Sam and Redwing. Below them, the SHIELD SUV drove on, off the highway and into the bustle of the small city that was Middleton, flanked by a trio of other SHIELD SUVs.

Kim gasped. She hadn't been home in so long-four years, exactly. Everything was just as she remembered-the mall, the Middleton High School…even the Bueno Nacho, where she and Ron and Rufus would hang out every single day, no matter what. It was their escape from the real world. It held so many fond memories, and Kim's lips formed a small smile as she basked in the memories of her time with Ron, before he had been so brutally taken away from her. This brought a few tears to her eyes. She missed Ron so much.

"Home again!" Rufus exclaimed as he came up to the window and took a look for himself, smiling like crazy at the scenes before him. He missed Middleton, too, and especially the humans he had come to love in his time here with Kim and his old master, Ron. "Bueno Nacho?" he asked eagerly.

"Maybe later," Kim chuckled as she continued to watch the scenes before her.

Coulson was content that Kim was enjoying herself a bit here, but he also felt…a bit guilty? He must be getting soft in his old age, he thought to himself, but he was a bit concerned. He saw the tears Kim was slowly shedding, despite the smile on her face. He figured they were in part from her memories of Ron Stoppable. Damn…when it came time to deliver the news…

They continued to drive, and sure enough, 15 minutes later, they pulled up at a very familiar house-at least, very familiar to Kim. Once the cars pulled up, Kim made to open her door, but then retracted her hand hesitantly. She had pushed away her family when she needed them the most, and when they were doing everything they could to help her in her moments of weakness. They had tried to help her in her grieving of Ron's death, and she had cast them aside. Her mother, her father, the tweebs…they were her family and she had discarded them as if she never knew them…

"They're family," Coulson said suddenly, snapping Kim out of her thoughts. "You may have been a bit harsh on them…but they're still family. Family forgives." Kim rolled those words over in her mind, and she found herself agreeing-family did indeed forgive. She just hoped that her family would do so. So, she made to open her door, but at that moment, the front door to the Possible residence opened up, and two teenage boys walked out, most likely 16 or 17 and dressed similarly except one had a red shirt with a black sweater and blue jeans, while the other had a red shirt with a blue sweater and black jeans, both with cautious and confused looks on their faces as they walked over to the SUVs in front of their home. At that moment, Hawkeye and Falcon, with Redwing on his shoulders, descended from the skies as Coulson exited the SUV.

"Hicka-bicka boo?" one twin muttered to the other.

"Hoo-shah," the other replied. As they both approached, he asked the agents, "Um, can we help you?"

"In all honesty," Hawkeye responded, "not really. We're just here for a pit stop."

"And why ARE you here, exactly?" the other twin asked. Both teenagers slowly began reaching for their watches, and Coulson saw this, meaning the two Secret Warriors/Avengers present saw this, and before something that everyone would regret could happen, he interjected.

"We're here on behalf of SHIELD, boys…and because someone wanted to see you and your family again."

"What…who?"

The car door opened, and Jim and Tim Possible were shocked and astounded when they saw the redheaded young woman emerge from the vehicle. They hadn't seen her in three years…not since she pushed them away. The young woman, walked up to them a few paces before stopping, clearly hesitant about coming close to them. With a deep breath, she made eye contact and gave them a shy and hopeful smile.

"Hey, tweebs."

…

…

"KIM!" the twins yelled in joy as they ran up and embraced their older sister. So great was their joy that they managed to bum rush and drop the three of them onto the grass of their lawn. Kim didn't care-she was too busy laughing and smiling. Her younger twin brothers had welcomed her with open arms, despite her pushing them away when they only wanted to help. She was so glad.

"Kim, it's so good to see you again!" Jim exclaimed.

"Yeah, sis!" Tim agreed. "You have no idea how much we all missed you! Ever since you stopped showing up for holidays and breaks, it just hasn't been the same!" The two kept hugging their eldest sister, not even realizing they were also choking her.

"TWEEBS! CAN'T BREATHE!"

"SORRY!" they exclaimed, laughing a bit as the three of them got onto their knees on the grass.

"I've missed you guys, too, believe it or not," Kim said, a smile on her face. "I just…I'm sorry I pushed you away and-"

"Kim, you're here now!" Jim interrupted, shaking his head in disagreement. "That's what matters now. You know we forgive-"

"Jim? Tim?" a woman's voice interrupted. "What's going on out here? Did you find out what those…those…Kimmy?"

"Mom…Dad?" The twins allowed Kim to get back to her feet as their parents then came out of the house and saw the scene before them. Ann and James Possible stood in shocked silence as they took in the sight of their only daughter. It had been three years since they had last seen here, since she had last come home to visit…since she had pushed them away. Kim now suddenly realized that she had missed her mother and father-a lot. She really hoped she could start over again. "Mom…Dad," she said again as she slowly walked towards them. "Hey…I, um…I came bac-OOMMPH!" She didn't even get to finish her sentence as Mrs. Possible slammed herself into her daughter and gave her the biggest hug she could muster, tears streaming down her face.

"Kimmy, I missed you so much!" Ann said, unable to remove the smile from her face. "It's so good to see you again."

"I missed you too," Kim replied, tears also streaming down her face.

"Hey, save some Kim for me," James interjected as he came in and also grabbed Kim for a bear hug. "It's good to see you, Kimmie-Cub."

"It's good to see you too, Dad," Kim answered. Jim and Tim came back over and joined in the hug. Coulson, Barton and Wilson simply watched them as the family enjoyed each other's presence. Four people once more seeing their fifth family member come back to them, all too willing to forgive her for her actions so long ago. That was what family did, after all. James, Ann, Jim and Tim were just happy that Kim had opened the door she had shut so long ago and reestablished the beginnings of a connection to those who loved her so much. The Possible family was back together again, even if only temporarily…which realized she needed to tell them.

"Kim," Anne began. "You know we all are glad to see you again…but, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you still be in the semester?"

"About that…" Kim replied. "Um…I don't think I'll be finishing college in time."

"What?" the tweebs exclaimed.

"Why?" James asked with suspicion.

"Well, that's kind of why I came back," Kim said. "I know you're happy to see me again, but…I can't stay that long. Yesterday, Upperton University was attacked by HYDRA-and don't worry, I'm ok and so is Monique," she added hastily once she saw the shocked expressions of her family; she had told them years ago that her last mission with Ron had involved HYDRA. "But these guys," Kim continued as she gestured to the agents behind her, "they saved me."

"And who are you people exactly?" Ann Possible asked as she turned her attention to the agents.

"My name is Phil Coulson, Mrs. Possible," Coulson answered. "I'm a special agent of the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate of the United Nations."

"Whoa, you're with SHIELD?" Jim and Tim exclaimed in awe.

"Sure am, boys," the man replied. "These are agents Hawkeye and Falcon-"

"OH MY GOD, THERE ARE TWO AVENGERS STANDING ON OUR FRONT LAWN!" Ann screamed in glee.

"Well, looks like we don't need to introduce ourselves," Sam smirked as both agents/Avengers walked forward.

"Anyways," Coulson interrupted, "your daughter, Mr. & Mrs. Possible, was indeed the target of a HYDRA assault. Why, we aren't exactly sure. But that is beside the point of our and your daughter's being here. If we could step inside for a moment…?"

* * *

***About 45 minutes later, inside the Possible home***

"A mission?" Anne asked. "Another mission, after all these years?"

"Yeah," Kim replied. At the moment, Kim, Rufus and Coulson were seated on one of the sofas in the living room, while her parents were sitting on the other couch, with the twins sitting on recliner chairs they had made in their junior year of high school (at the cost of Mr. Barkin banning them from four of the five science labs in Middleton High), and Clint and Sam were leaning on the wall, Redwing resting on the coffee table. Sam had assured Ann he wouldn't leave any surprises.

"Are you sure?" James asked, understandably a bit concerned. "Kim, to jump so quickly into this decision, especially since you've been out the game for so long-"

"Yeah, I know I've been out of it," the young woman replied. "I honestly didn't even want to do this mission in the first place at all. You know how bad of a train wreck I've been these past four years. Not a day went by were I didn't cry at least once a day because of what happened to Ron. I told myself that because of what happened that night, I couldn't go out there again. But…over the last two days, I learned something. I can't blame myself for the choices that other people make and what they do for my benefit…but I can blame myself for not honoring and respecting their decisions. Monique helped me realize that I was insulting Ron's sacrifice for me…and I have, for so long. I didn't see it, and I didn't understand it. But…now, I do. I know that it wasn't my fault that Ron died that night. He chose to join me in my missions every time. He chose to be my sidekick, and he chose to enter the life with me. He chose to come with me that night, he chose to stay with me to the end, and he chose to take the hit that was going to be mine. He chose to give his life for mine that night…and I have been dishonoring that choice for four years. I don't want to do it any longer. I don't want to feel like a failure for the rest of my life. I want to know that Ron's choice actually left an impact. That's why I'm taking this mission, why I'm going to help out SHIELD with this sitch that they have. If they think only I can help them out, then that's what I'll do. If it'll help me rediscover myself and be sure that I can still be who I was, then I'll do it." As Kim had said these words, a few tears glistened into her eyes. She felt ashamed of what she had done all these years, and she was determined to redeem herself in her own eyes; she wanted to ensure that Ron's sacrifice had not been in vain. She decided it was time to finally honor the promise Ron had made her say to him-to live life to her fullest, be the best she could be. She knew she had a long road ahead of her-she was still ridden in guilt, self-doubt and uncertainty. But she was determined to see to it that she emerge from this as Kim Possible. The real Kim Possible.

"Well…" James said with a sigh. "If that is what you want to do, then I guess we really can't stop you, Kimmie-Cub. You know that your mother and I…always worried about you when you and Ron went out to fight off Drew or Drakken or whatever he calls himself now, and that golfer guy and the like, but we knew you knew what you were doing. We always hoped you wouldn't actually make a living out of this, but…you're an adult now, and we can't really force you, can we?"

"If it makes you feel any better," Coulson offered, "Kim isn't required to stay with SHIELD once this mission is over. After we complete it, she is completely free to walk away and live whatever life she chooses to live."

"Well, that's good to here," Ann sighed. "We'll always worry about you, Kim… but if you really feel you need to do this, then go do it, honey. You have my full support as your mother."

"Thanks, Mom and Dad," Kim replied with a small smile. "I needed to hear you say that."

"Anything to help make sure that we get our real Kim back," her father replied as he went over to her and gave her a hug.

"I say it's a good idea," Jim stated. "Kim is the best out there-she can do anything! You got our support!"

"Actually…" Tim said, "I kind of have an objection to this-Kim, you haven't been out on a mission in years now, and I highly doubt you've been fighting bad guys while in college. You haven't used any gadgets or anything like that. Kim, I'm worried you might be kind of-well, really rusty."

"Tim, don't be ridiculous," Kim huffed with an exasperated chuckle. "Yeah, I've been out of action for a long time, but I'm not rusty-!"

"I got an angry boss and a bloody arrow that says otherwise," Hawkeye interrupted with a smirk, which became a laugh at Kim's look. "Kid's right, Kim-you're REALLY rusty. But don't worry…me and some of the Warriors will whip you into shape in no time."

"Word of advice," Falcon warned with a smirk, "stay away from the training rooms on base."

"Mr. & Mrs. Possible," Coulson said. "I give you my word that your daughter will be under our protection as long as she is with us, and she will be working with the best that SHIELD has to offer. She will never be alone. You have my word."

"Ahem."

"Yes, that goes for you too, boys," the SHIELD agent added, satisfying Jim and Tim.

"Well then, go get 'em, honey," Mrs. Possible stated as she gave her daughter a huge hug. "And be safe out there. If you can, don't forget to call us-let me know you're doing fine, that you're safe, that you're eating properly, that no one tried to kill-!"

"Mom, I'll be fine! I'm 22 years old!" Kim huffed as she returned the hug. "It's no big! I know what I'm getting into! Seriously-not in front of the SHIELD guys!"

"Don't worry, I'm used to it with Clint & Bobbi," Sam laughed.

"Hey!"

"Well now," Mrs. Possible said, clasping her hands together. "Now that that's out of the way, I figure you all are famished. Any chance I can interest you in some dinner? We're having some fried chicken, along with mashed potatoes and biscuits."

"Oh god, I missed those…" Kim sighed.

"As much as I wish we could, ma'am," Coulson began, "we're on a tight schedule so we-"

"Whoa, Coulson, what's the rush?" Hawkeye interrupted. "Didn't you hear-fried chicken and mashed potatoes and biscuits! You know when was the last time I ate like that? A FEW MONTHS AGO! I need some real food!"

"Weren't you saying we were just making a pit stop when we showed up?" Falcon asked with amusement.

"I say a lot of things, you know that."

"Coulson," Kim smiled. "I think we can wait for one more night before heading off to your base. Besides…there are some things I need to do still here in town."

Realizing he wasn't going to win this argument, Coulson simply sighed. "Fine, I guess one dinner couldn't hurt." And indeed, he was right, it didn't hurt; in fact, he quite honestly enjoyed himself. He couldn't remember the last time he had just sat down and enjoyed the company of other people that didn't involve shooting at enemies. Laughing and simply conversing with these people, civilians and agents alike, he had a good time (plus he really liked the twins, and wondered if they could be useful for SHIELD once they got older…unless Stark got to them first). So did Clint and Sam-they figured that with the lives they led as Secret Warriors, times like this were few and far between, which was why they relished their times when they were with the rest of the Avengers and when they were with loved ones. Kim had missed this most of all. She once more had her mother and her father and her tweebs at her side. They had forgiven her for pushing them away, and it was as if things had never changed at all. Granted, she knew that there were still a few things-ok, quite a lot of things-that needed to be changed on her part, but she had taken the first steps at last. She was working to repair and salvage her relationship with her family and then she would move on to the relationships with her friends-Tara, the other cheerleaders, even Bonnie (God, she hoped she still wasn't dating Senor Senior, Jr.). It would be a slow process, but Kim was up for it, and she owed it all to Monique's radical pep talk. She had brought her to her senses momentarily and helped her cling on to it. Kim really wouldn't be here without Monique.

Monique had given her the words she needed to here.

And it was for that reason that Kim, after dinner was finally done, decided that there were still two people she needed to speak with before she left Middleton once again.

And she would get her words across. Kim wasn't going to allow their blame to make her feel like a failure anymore.

* * *

_**XXXXX-A/N-XXXXX**_

_**Ok, I know this may have been a bit of a dull chapter, but I really wanted to bring in Kim's family, and I really wanted her to have some words with them now that some sense has been knocked into her thanks to Monique. So, I hope you guys enjoyed that little tidbit, and be sure to give me some feedback, as I always hope to improve.**_

_**Anyways, who do you think Kim is going to speak to next chapter? And not only that, we shall get to see some more action next chapter, courtesy of out mystery agent from a few chapters back, codename: Mad Dog! :D Anyone want to guess who she is? (I mentioned it's a she in the sixth chapter)**_

_**Thanks again for the reads and review! Next chapter coming soon, so until next time, readers.**_


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